Consultocracy and its discontents : A critical typology and a call for a research agenda

Peer reviewe

Civil society leadership in the struggle for AIDS treatment in South Africa and Uganda

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references.This thesis is an attempt to theorise and operationalise empirically the notion of ‘civil society leadership’ in Sub-Saharan Africa. ‘AIDS leadership,’ which is associated with the intergovernmental institutions charged with coordinating the global response to HIV/AIDS, is both under-theorised and highly context-specific. In this study I therefore opt for an inclusive framework that draws on a range of approaches, including the literature on ‘leadership’, institutions, social movements and the ‘network’ perspective on civil society mobilisation. This framework is employed in rich and detailed empirical descriptions (‘thick description’) of civil society mobilisation around AIDS, including contentious AIDS activism, in the key case studies of South Africa and Uganda. South Africa and Uganda are widely considered key examples of poor and good leadership (from national political leaders) respectively, while the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO) are both seen as highly effective civil society movements. These descriptions emphasise ‘transnational networks of influence’ in which civil society leaders participated (and at times actively constructed) in order to mobilise both symbolic and material resources aimed at exerting influence at the transnational, national and local levels

The EU‐Japan Economic Partnership Agreement as a Norm Model for Sustainable Development Issues in the Future EU FTAs in Asia

This chapter considers how the issues related to sustainable development are formulated and included in the European Union’s (EU’s) free trade agreements (FTAs) and whether they reflect the aims of the parties in setting norms for international trade. It investigates the EU’s recent FTA with Japan and explores whether the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) can be regarded as a norm setter on sustainable development issues in the EU’s future FTAs in Asia. The chapter presents an overview of the EU-Japan trade and investment flows, noting some of the imbalances in the bilateral economic interaction related to the FTA negotiations. The empirical part focuses on the findings from the interviews as to the aims, challenges, business reflections, and prospects for implementation of the EPA on sustainable development issues. Finally, the chapter discusses the potential of the EU-Japan EPA to become a norm setter for the EU’s future trade negotiations in Asia. © ISTE Ltd 2020