Description
This paper introduces “super-networks” as new advocacy actors in International Politics. Super-networks establish a new advocacy layer above (“super”) already existing individual transnational advocacy networks (TANs) and can be described as partnerships of different TANs that operate across policy fields. Through TAN-TAN collaboration, super-networks advance a consolidated advocacy strategy, magnified by the unity, numbers and the diversity of organizations from various policy fields involved.
The main objectives of this paper are to (1) develop a new theoretical framework to analyse super-networks, to (2) present rich empirical details analysing one particular super-network, i.e. the Right to a Healthy Environment (R2HE) Coalition that successfully advocated for the recognition of the new international human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment in the UN Human Rights Council (2021) and in the UN General Assembly (2022), and to (3) further discuss the relevance and value-added of the super-network concept in International Politics.
Empirically, this paper is based on a content analysis of primary advocacy documents and expert interviews with key representatives of the R2HE Coalition but also experts of the UN Environment Programme and the UN Human Rights Council, including the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment.
