Global Norms, Domestic Politics: Children’s Rights and Civil Society in Argentina

Abstract

That globalisation has changed the nature of contentious politics is now beyond dispute (Tarrow 2005; Brysk 2005; Bandy and Smith 2005; Kaldor 2003; Brysk 2002; Keck and Sikkink 1998). A new kind of transnational opportunity, for human rights advocacy in particular, emerged in the 1980s, in response to increasing rights violations and rising authoritarian rule across much of the developing world. The subsequent trend toward democratisation has meant that opportunities for domestic contention in many countries have gradually re-opened. In circumstances where both international and domestic structures present themselves as potential sites of contention, Sikkink (2005) suggests that activism can take the form of an ‘insider-outsider coalition’, where activists focus on the domestic level but draw strength strategically from supportive international structures. This is an important insight, taking us beyond an either/or, transnational or domestic, analysis of contemporary non-state activism (see also Hertel 2006) and directing attention toward the multiple and complex ways in which globalisation impacts the politics of advocacy.