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From the beginning of the Troubles, groups in Northern Ireland deliberately sought and made use of transnational allies to further their political goals and gain strategic advantages vis-à-vis their opponents. Organizations on both sides of the conflict turned to external allies, including diaspora groups, like-minded movements, and groups with ideological affinities for accessing resources, expanding and practicing their tactical repertoires, and strengthening their claims to legitimacy. While the existence of this transnational dimension of the Troubles is well documented, the differences among cross-border networks—how they were structured, how they functioned, and their impact on the dynamics of the conflict—are less well understood. Drawing on social movement theory, particularly work on transnational advocacy networks, coalition formation, and diffusion, this chapter compares the structure and function of two types of cross-border networks that resulted: licit ties that publicly connected two or more groups, and illicit ties that allowed groups to forge secretive connections with potential allies.

The literature on transnationalism suggests that transnational regulatory spaces are becoming increasingly important at the regional level and that in these domains networks represent an important new mode of governance. This chapter examines these assumptions by way of exploring the institutionalization and architecture of the Latin American regional telecoms regulatory space. We assess how and to what extent regional transnational networks are enhancing the sector’s regulatory governance. Our findings suggest that transnational networks in telecommunications configure a regulatory community in Latin America, but have many limitations in promoting regional governance. These limitations reveal the traditional institutional weaknesses of the region, but they are also aggravated by the composition and purposes of the entities within and outside the region that support and nurture these networks. Nonetheless, transnational networks facilitate exchange of information and policy experiences within the countries in the region.

This chapter describes how the Cockpit Country, a mountainous limestone forest region in the northwestern section of the island, was threatened by the possibility of bauxite mining, which would displace local residents and degrade natural resources. It then traces how a transnational network participated in the creation and implementation of the GEF project titled the Project on Sustainable Conservation of Globally Important Caribbean Bird Habitats. It shows how the network developed a scientific consensus after members held a series of transnational workshops and knowledge building exercises on bird habitat management in Cockpit Country, thus becoming an epistemic community. Despite having a consensus, the network could only persuade those policymakers with whom they socialized in the Forestry Department and the Ministry of Environment to adopt new environmental regulations. Moreover, although the network initially used economic justifications to argue for conservation, policymakers in the Jamaica Bauxite Institute and the Ministry of Agriculture rejected these, asserting the importance of short-term economic exploitation. Only when the network was able to mobilize the mass public around justice claims was the network able to generate sufficient political will to curb bauxite mining in Cockpit Country.

Chapter 4 explores the mechanisms through which political actors in positions of power can be influenced to dismantle unjust decision-making and legal structures from which they benefit. It is argued that when such actors are hostile towards principled reform and have the ability to withstand democratic challenges to their privileged position, a combination of civil disobedience and intervention by actors external to the society is required to compel them out of their intransigence. The chapter presents conditionality and transnational networking as practical expressions of this mode of structural change and considers how these practices can inform future efforts at principled reform.

Don Rassler’s chapter documents the contemporary knowledge of the Haqqani network in the context of its establishment and early infrastructure development, especially in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia. In looking at this yet another transnational jihadi network between South Asia and the Gulf born during the anti-Soviet jihad, the chapter revolves around mujahidin commander Jalaluddin Haqqani and his ties to the two countries. Tracing the comparative dynamics and evolution of these ties, the chapter sketches the development of the Haqqani network in both countries highlighting the importance of the role of religious and private social networks. It emphasizes on the greater importance of institutional factors in the case of the UAE as well as the ambiguous approach of the Saudi establishment towards Haqqani.

This chapter deals with the international organisation of the Muslim Brotherhood and the many European organisations the Brotherhood has built over the past thirty years. It traces the many personal links between the leaders of the Brotherhood, as well as the ideological links between the movements in the different countries. It asks whether there is a centrally led organisation.

Vahid Brown’s chapter examines the role of the Salafi Emirate of Kunar’s role in shaping the development of transnational salafi jihadi networks while also focusing on the fault lines within the same. The chapter brings out the significance of this previously little studied Afghan mujahidin movement in forming links between the Gulf and Afghanistan-Pakistan. Explaining the Emirate of Kunar’s brand of jihadi Salafism as a creation based on previous ties with South Asian Ahl-i-Hadith movement and Gulf Salafism, the chapter identifies it as a precursor to the ISIS brand in Iraq and Syria. In its progression, the chapter traces the historical emergence of the emirate followed by an examination of the writings of the Gulf Salafi mashayikh on Jamil al-Rahman, its founder, and the emirate itself. Subsequently, the Afghan Arab literature on the Salafis of Kunar is reviewed.

This chapter explores the Hsiungs’ bid to gain acceptance in British society through performances of class, family and the home. It discusses how they performed identities through the location of their homes, interior decoration and the social engagements held there. It argues that shifts in dominant British attitudes towards the Chinese over the first half of the twentieth century can be traced through the Hsiungs’ story. Changing views of the Chinese reflected the domestic situation in Britain and the way the British saw, or wanted to see, themselves. In the post-war period, the Hsiung family offered an idealized image of a family united by strong ties, at a time of a perceived breakdown in British family values. The chapter also discusses how the Hsiungs constructed their home as ‘the social centre of the Chinese community in England, arguing that their role in transnational Chinese network was vital to their claims to being a part of English life. The chapter ends by questioning the construction of the Hsiungs as a happy family, demonstrating that this image was founded upon gendered inequalities and erased divisions and power relations at work within the family unit.