International city networks and global norm dynamics [URBANORMS]: Assessing the influence of network structures on network activities

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Anja Jakobi
• Subject Area: Political Science
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 468859403

The project analyzes international city networks in global politics. These networks represent a new type of urban actor, whose reach and organizational level substantially exceed established forms of city partnerships. As with other actors, their network structure enables new, intensified forms of interaction and, potentially, new forms of influence in world politics. Against this background, this project analyzes the research question how network structures influence the activities of international city networks in global norm dynamics. Global norm dynamics involve a range of transnational and local processes that influence the initiation, diffusion, contestation and weakening of norms. Despite the growing emphasis on local actors in international relations (IR) research on norms, the variance of activities shown by city networks as well as the relation to their network structure remain under-researched. As a consequence, this project systematically examines the variance of activities linked to global norm dynamics (as dependent variable) and explains this variance through network structures (as independent variable), referring to central concepts of IR research and social network analysis like power, intensity of cooperation or collective identity.The project is based on a y-centered research design, including a triangulation of methods to generate and analyze data. In a first step, it brings together existent explanations of activities linked norm dynamics and empirically examines a broad base of city networks and their activities related to norm dynamics. Further steps a dedicated to examine four city networks and explain their activities linked to norms on security, human rights, health and digitalization. Methods include interviews, survey research, document and social network analysis. Data is generated and coded in a way that enables the future use by other researchers as far as possible. All in all, the project contributes to theory-building in IR by bringing together norm research with findings from ‚urban studies‘, linking them to theoretical and methodological research on international networks. The results are not only relevant for norm research, but also for research on agency in global governance.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Switzerland
• Cooperation Partner: Professor Oliver Westerwinter, Ph.D.