Pamela M. Paxton Ohio State University
SES-0962034 Melanie M. Hughes University of Pittsburgh
In this proposal, the investigators link world polity and social networks to inform the development of a new over-time measure of country-level connectedness to the world polity, labeled the "INGO Network Country Score." This measure will score countries by their centrality in the world country-INGO network. The resulting published dataset will be useful to a cross-disciplinary audience. In a second part of the project, an in-depth analysis is carried out on one domain of INGOs-Women's International Nongovernmental Organizations, or WINGOs. The investigators draw upon theories of the international women?s movement to provide testable theories about expected changes in the WINGO network structure over time.
Broader Impacts The proposed project will have broad impact for academic researchers in the fastest growing areas of political sociology and political science. The dataset generated here will provide a substantial resource for researchers who study global processes, international organizations, and cross-national outcomes.
This collaborative grant unfolded in two phases. Phase I was data collection and was coordinated at the University of Pittsburgh (SES-0962034). Phase II involves analysis of the data and continues at the University of Texas-Austin (see SES-1067218). The main task of Phase I was to collect data on international organizations in order to develop a new over-time measure of country-level connectedness to the world polity. Collecting longitudinal data on international organizations was time-intensive and challenging. Using published yearbooks and an online database, we collected data on more than 3,000 international nongovernmental organizations at twelve points over a 58-year period -- 1950, 1955, 1960, 1965, 1973, 1978, 1983, 1988, 1993, 1998, 2003, and 2008. The dataset generated here will provide a substantial resource for researchers who study global processes, international organizations, and cross-national outcomes. Phase I also involved collecting data on women's international nongovernmental organizations, or WINGOs. Since the late 1800s, WINGOs have actively sought to promote women’s rights and status at global, regional, national, and local levels. Yet, we know little empirically about the rise of these organizations globally, especially since 1985. We collected data on more than 450 WINGOs founded between 1875 and 2008. These data will provide the first longitudinal dataset on women’s international organizations across countries over time. In Phase II of this collaborative project (SES-1067218), we plan to use the data we have collected to create new measures of country connections to international nongovernmental organizations. Researchers use such measures to study a range of important social and political topics such as social stratification, human rights, education, and science. Thus, our new measure could transform our understanding of these important global phenomena. We will also use a range of social network methods to analyze changes in North-South inequalities in women’s international organizing. The changing patterns of women’s global organizing have broad implications for women's movements and women's rights around the world.
