TRANSNATIONAL ACTORS

Aims
What are the most significant transnational actors in international
politics?
How do they wield power?
What are transnational identities?
Do transnational identities matter?
International
organizations
KEY QUESTIONS FOR US TO
CONSIDER:
• WHAT ROLES DO THEY PLAY?
• WHAT POWER DO THEY HAVE?
Non-Governmental
organizations
• Typically, organizations that are not associated with the
state, or the market
• include the good, bad and ugly
Non-Governmental organizations
#2
Intergovernmental Organizations
Multinational
Corporations
Multinational
corporations
companies with
branches or
subsidiaries outside
their home country

illustration: 10 MNCs
control most brands
multinational corporations
TRANSNATIONAL
CONNECTIONS AND POWER:

THESE CAN PROVIDE DIFFERENT

ACTORS SEEKING SOME SORT OF
CHANGE WITH A NUMBER OF
IMPORTANT RESOURCE:

• Safe havens
• Economic resources
• supply of recruits
Al Qaeda: a study in
transnationalism
*Reading: Jason Burke, Al Qaeda

Safe havens:
• Pak/Afg (1979-89)
• Saudi Arabia
(1989-91)
• Sudan (1991-96)
• Afg/Pak (1996-
2011)
AQ I: Jihad in
Pakistan/Afghanist
an (1979-89)
• Context: Soviet occupation of
Afghanistan; US-backed mujahideen
• OBL established Maktab al-Khidmat with
Abdallah Azzam (right)
• Channel for official and private Saudi aid
• Post-jihad institutionalization

Bonus reading:

Li, D., 2021. Aid as pan‐Islamic solidarity in

Bosnia‐Herzegovina: Toward an anthropology
of universalism. American Ethnologist, 48(3),
pp.231-244.
Transnational loyalties and war: historical examples
reading: George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia

CRUSADES (RELIGION) SPANISH CIVIL WAR (IDEOLOGY)

Transnational loyalties and war: contemporary
examples
ABU ABDULLAH AL-HABASHI, 20 SILHAN OZCELIK, 17, HARINGEY
(DIED FIGHTING FOR ISIS) (POSSIBLY FIGHTING FOR KURDISH YPJ)
Transnational
loyalties and war:
Ukraine Today

Matt Roe, an Australian, pictured

in Ukraine, says he ‘likes to put his
neck out’.
What makes a strong
essay?
Introduction

Thesis

3-4-5 main themes / points

Conclusion