Unpacking transnational activist networks: An analysis of anti-sweatshop campaigns in the U.S.-Caribbean basin apparel industry (1990-2008)

The rise of transnational social movements in general, and the globalization of labor activism, in particular, have become core topics within political sociology over the last decades. The growing international literature on the matter, however, has largely failed to offer systematic evidence on the composition and operation of transnational activists networks (TANs). In this paper, I aim to contribute to filling this void by using recent advances in network mapping tools to unpack the TAN behind the anti-sweatshop movement in the Americas, which brought together unions and NGOs from both the United States and the seven producer countries in the regional apparel industry (Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic). Based on an original database on the universe of 93 transnational campaigns seeking to establish independent unions in apparel factories in the region between 1990 and 2008, the paper applies the tools of network analysis to the understanding of the structure and outcomes of TANs.