ABSTRACT
Having reviewed the international relations (IR) literature on transnational activism and identified gaps pertaining to the agency of non-state, non-formal civil society actors, this chapter draws on knowledge from other disciplines to begin tracing the new dimensions of transnational activism, looking at three main foci: structure and form, processes and relations, and pathways and motivations. It notes that the literature on transnational activism is vast and multidisciplinary, spanning political economy, economic and institutional sociology, and anthropology, among others. It also points out how past transdisciplinary research by various scholars recognises the deeper, more holistic insights to be gained from multidisciplinary research. Amid this mix, while IR provides a useful baseline for understanding advocacy by formal organisations, its statist and collectivist biases have occluded in-depth study of the rising transnational agency and involvement of informal actors. On its own, IR scholarship on transnational activism provides an incomplete picture of a vast and diverse phenomenon, thus making a case for including diverse insights from other disciplines. Given their sociocultural orientation, theories from sociology, psychology, African Studies, and communications studies respond better to knowledge gaps in IR regarding new dimensions of transnational activism.
