Networks of Influence? Developing Countries in a Networked Global Order

Networks are thriving in global politics. Some bring policy-makers from different countries together to share problems and to forge solutions, free from the rules of representation, decision-making, and transparency which constrain more formal international organizations. Are developing countries benefiting from these nimble and non-hierarchical forms of governance? Or are they better off conducting their international relations through formal institutions? The answer depends on how the networks are structured, what their purpose is, and how power is exercised inside them. This book presents a fascinating account of how some networks have strengthened the position of developing country officials, both at home and in international negotiations. At the same time, it points to conditions under which networks can become instruments of capture and co-optation by the powerful, rather than vehicles for more equitable international co-operation. Book jacket.

Ngaire Woods is Professor of International Political Economy at Oxford University and Director of the Global Economic Governance Programme at University College, Oxford. Her recent books include The Politics of Global Regulation (edited with Walter Mattli, Princeton University Press, 2009), The Globalizers: the IMF, the World Bank and their Borrowers (Cornell University Press, 2006), Exporting Good Governance: Temptations and Challenges in Canada's Aid Program (edited with Jennifer Welsh, Laurier University Press, 2007) and Making Self-Regulation Effective in Developing Countries (edited with Dana Brown, Oxford University Press, 2007).
Leonardo Martinez-Diaz is Political Economy Fellow at the Brookings Institution and Deputy Director of the Partnership for the Americas Commission. His research focuses on the emerging economies, and the role of banking and finance and global governance. He has published many articles on the political economy of reform and global governance and has a forthcoming book Waiting for the Barbarians: The Politics of Banking-Sector Opening in the Emerging World (Cornell University Press, 2009).