From Pariah to Priority: How Lgbti Rights Became a Pillar of American and Swedish Foreign Policy by Elise Carlson Rainer

Author:Elise Carlson Rainer [Rainer, Elise Carlson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: International Relations, Diplomacy, LGBTQ+ Studies, Gay Studies, Social Science, Political Science, Human Rights
ISBN: 9781438485799
Google: W0c7zgEACAAJ
Goodreads: 57285202
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 2021-01-15T09:22:35+00:00

Debating Civil Society’s Position Vis-à-Vis the State

The comparative analysis of these two case studies exemplifies the debate of how close civil society groups should become to government institutions. NGO advocacy in these two countries presents contrasting tactics toward influencing foreign affairs. The US case presents a movement with a central strategy of resistance from the state, fueled mainly by private funding. By contrast, Swedish activists largely work with public funding and are highly connected to government and state leadership. The Swedish movement is more deeply integrated within the state, whereas advocacy in the United States remains more autonomous. Even with the close relationship with the state, Swedish advocates are not hindered in their advocacy work, and when necessary continue with their vocal criticism of government policy, political parties, or political opposition in Parliament. Nevertheless, accepting funding from the government and maintaining a close relationship with government bodies is highly debated among human rights practitioners and theorists alike.

There is disagreement in the literature among social movement scholars as to whether a movement should work within the government toward full integration or remain autonomous from the state. Amy Elman demonstrates that states can hinder mobilizing potential and that activists risk co-optation and depoliticization.75 Additionally, Laurel Weldon asserts that social movements should be cautious of becoming too closely integrated into political parties, warning that when movements are subsumed into a party, “their mobilizing potential decreases, their links to marginalized constituencies weaken, and substantive representation is decreased.”76 Some empirical data demonstrate that when some social movements seek full integration in either large political parties or the state, the state can potentially neutralize movement goals.77 By becoming too close to the state or relying on public funding, there is a risk of state agencies taking control of social movement agendas and neutralizing the movement.78 NGOs working closely with the government may risk increased oversight of their work, thus hindering their movement.

However, remaining politically and financially autonomous from the state presents difficulties as well. Banaszak suggests that social movements should be assessed on a continuum rather than on a dichotomy of radical versus conformist. Furthermore, social movement actors often are found both within and outside the state. Unless state structures expressly forbid officials working directly with outside advocates, actors can work both within and outside the state in different roles toward the same end goal.79 Given that the state funds most civil society groups in Sweden, Lars Trägårdh raises the question about whether Sweden truly has “non” governmental NGOs.80 Even with a close relationship to the state, Swedish LGBTI groups have used public funds, vocally shamed antagonistic leaders, and integrated their work inside the state, achieving a broad range of policy adoption toward LGBTI equality.

There is general consensus in social movement literature that the location of the social movement actor is important.81 Most social movement research focuses on players outside the state, where NGOs leaders generate movement agendas and bureaucrats receive them.82 Pettinicchio challenges the insider/outsider dichotomy used by many social movement scholars, asserting that “institutional

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