Communicating Practice in Transnational Advocacy: Examples from Southeast Asia

Abstract

The proliferation of digital technology—both as hardware and software—provides opportunities for activist groups around the world to connect with one another more rapidly and efficiently than ever before. And as mobile Internet technology (including smartphones, personal digital assistants, and laptops) becomes cheaper and more readily available, the number of services offered to individuals has increased dramatically, including voice communication, Internet browsing, and data transfer. At the same time, the rise in transnational advocacy networks means that non-state actors are garnering new voices and challenging both old and new sites of authority, from local governments and state agencies to regional and international organizations. Based on fieldwork and with a focus on the process of interaction within transnational groups in Southeast Asia, this article adopts a communities of practice (COP) approach and applies it to the impact of digital networking in order to test some of the questions posed about the nature of the so-called technological revolution and to assess the ways in which technological advancement has affected these groups. It hypothesizes that even new and potentially levelling forms of communication can only respond to and reshape the pre-existing social conditions and organizational structures within which network participants function.

La proliferación de la tecnología digital—tanto hardware como software—provee oportunidades a los grupos activistas alrededor del mundo, para conectarse entre sí más rápida y eficientemente que nunca antes. Y así como la tecnología de Internet móvil (que incluye teléfonos inteligentes, asistentes digitales personales y portátiles) se vuelve cada vez más barata y disponible, el número de servicios ofrecidos a los individuos se ha incrementado dramáticamente, incluyendo la comunicación de voz, la navegación de Internet, y la transferencia de datos. Al mismo tiempo, el aumento de las redes trasnacionales de apoyo, es una señal que los actores no estatales están recabando nuevas voces y retando tanto a los viejos como a los nuevos sitios de autoridad, desde los gobiernos locales y agencias estatales, a las organizaciones regionales e internacionales. Este artículo, basado en el trabajo de campo y con un enfoque en el proceso de interacción dentro de los grupos trasnacionales en Asia sudoriental, adopta una visión de comunidades de práctica (COP, por sus siglas en inglés) y la aplica al impacto de las redes digitales para probar algunas de las preguntas planteadas sobre la naturaleza de la así llamada revolución tecnológica, y para evaluar las formas en las que el avance tecnológico ha afectado a estos grupos. Hace hipótesis de que incluso las nuevas y potenciales formas de nivelación de la comunicación tan solo pueden responder y reestructurar las condiciones sociales preexistentes y organizacionales dentro de la red en que los participantes funcionan.

作为同是硬件和软件的数字技术的扩散为世界各地的活动家集团相互之间迅捷联系提供了前所未有的机会。由于移动互联网技术（包括智能手机、个人数字助理和笔记本）变得更加廉价和更易获取，个人获得的服务的数量也在急剧增长，包括语音通讯、互联网浏览以及数据传输。同时，跨国游说网络的兴起意味着非国家行为体正在发出新的声音，挑战包括从地方政府、国家机构到区域与国际组织的老的和新的权威。

基于田野研究和聚焦在东南亚的跨国集团的互动过程，本文采取事件社区（COP）的研究方法，研究数字网络的影响，以便检验有关所谓技术革命的特性等引起的问题的一些，并评估技术升级影响这些集团的方式。本文假定，甚至新的和潜在的通讯升级形式就能够回应和重新塑造已经存在的社会条件和网络参加者赖以行动的组织结构。 하드웨어와 소프트웨어로서의 디지털 기술의 번창은 전세계 활동가 집단들이 이전보다 더 빠르게 더 효율적으로 서로를 연결하는데 있어서 기회를 제공한다. 그리고 모바일 인터넷 기술(스마트폰, 개인적인 디지털 지원기와 랩탑)은 더 저렴해지고 더 쉽게 사용가능 하게 되면서, 음성 통화, 인터넷 부라우징과 데이터 전송을 포함한 개인들에게 제공되는 서비스 숫자도 극적으로 증가하고 있다. 동시에, 초국적 시민단체들의 증가는 새로운 목소리를 모으고 국가가 아닌 행위자들이 지방정부와 정부기관에서부터 지역이나 국제기구에 이르기까지 오래된 새로운 당국에 도전하는 것을 의미한다. 이 글은 현장 조사에 기초하고 동남아시아에서 초국적 집단 내의 상호작용 과정에 초점을 맞추어 실행 커뮤니티(communities of practice, COP) 접근을 채택하여 그것을 이른바 기술 혁명의 성격과 관련하여 제기된 질문을 검증하기 위하여 디지털 네트워킹의 영향에 적용하고 그리고 기술의 발전이 이들 집단에 영향을 미치는 방식을 평가한다. 이 글은 새롭고 잠재적으로 평등하게 하는 커뮤니케이션 형태조차 네트워크 참여자들이 기능하는 기존의 사회적 조건과 조직에 반응하고 재구성한다는 가설을 내세운다.

Распространение цифровых технологий - аппаратного и программного обеспечения, дает группам активистов по всему миру возможность общаться друг с другом быстрее и эффективнее чем когда-либо прежде. И поскольку мобильные интернет-технологии (смартфоны, КПК, ноутбуки) становятся более дешевыми и доступными, число услуг, предложенных людям, резко увеличилось, включая голосовые сообщения, интернет-просмотр и передачу данных. В то же самое время рост транснациональных пропагандистских сетей означает, что негосударственные субъекты собирают новые голоса и бросают вызов старым и новым участкам власти, местным органам управления и государственным агентствам, региональным и международным организациям. На основании полевых работ и с акцентом на процесс взаимодействия в рамках транснациональных групп в Юго-Восточной Азии, эта статья перенимает опыт практикующих сообществ (CоP) и применяет его к создаваемым цифровым сетям для того, чтобы ответить на некоторые вопросы о природе так называемой технологической революции и оценить каким образом технический прогресс повлиял на эти группы. Строится гипотеза, что даже новые и потенциально выравнивающие формы общения могут реагировать и изменять только уже существующие социальные условия и организационные структуры, в рамках которых функционируют участники сети.

Keywords:

• transnational advocacy
• networks
• digital technology
• Communities of Practice
• Southeast Asia

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to the reviewers for their insightful comments, and to the British Academy for funding the fieldwork.

Notes

Interviewees were selected for: representing either the secretariat or significant members of the main transnational advocacy networks within Southeast Asia, with members from at least three states; having an institutional persona; having existed for 10 years or more; and addressing a wide remit (such as the environment or women). The selected networks, although they may have been initiated by international agencies such as the Food and Agricultural Organisation, are not simply ‘Asian’ chapters of international organizations like Oxfam, but derive from local initiatives. Based on these criteria the secretariats for each network were approached and interviewed directly, by telephone or through email correspondence. Significant participants within each network were identified through the founding members, the output of documents and through reputation, as uncovered by interviews and cross referenced with other participants. Senior representatives from each group were identified and interviewed, but as most wished to remain anonymous their comments are not attributed personally. I focused on Bangkok, Manila, and New Delhi, where most significant participants are found. The groups interviewed were (in Delhi) the ILC, SEACON, the Renee Foundation for Women Empowerment, the Social Development Foundation, Focus on the Global South, the Gandhi Peace Foundation, Wada no Todo Abihyan, and the Indian Social Action Forum; (in Manila) ANGOC, Reclaiming Rural Agriculture and Food Sovereignty Action, Information Resource Management Division, Philippine Commission on Women in Transnational Work, Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, ISIS, and the Philippine Partnership for the Development of Human Resources in Rural Areas (PhilDHRRA); (in Bangkok) People's Empowerment, SEAWWATCH, and Thai Women's Watch. I also attended a one-day workshop hosted by Thai Women's Watch, bringing together domestic and transnational groups.