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Meta-Organizations for Transformative Change
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This book brings together eleven studies on "meta-organizations," groups made up of other organizations, examining how they address issues like plastic pollution, tobacco regulation, and social inequality. It explores how these groups can either support or block large-scale changes toward sustainability and fairness in society.
Meta-organizations – organizations whose members are themselves organizations – have emerged as important drivers of collective action to enact transformative change, changes that increase sustainability and responsibility in organizations, industries, and society as a whole. At the same time, the current challenges in business and society create a paradoxical moment where meta-organizations can expand, maintain, or shrink horizons of collective action for transformative change. They can expand horizons through framing, reframing, and organizing resistance; they maintain horizons by shaping internal and external structures; or meta-organizations can deliberately close them, preventing societal transformations towards just and sustainable orders. But when and how this happens remains understudied. Bringing together eleven contributions drawing on a rich diversity of theoretical perspectives and empirical contexts, this volume advances our understanding of the functioning and actions of meta-organizations in the face of a wide range of issues, including plastic pollution, tobacco regulation, gender and minority marginalization, social movements in the Global South, and other contemporary challenges. The volume highlights both the promises and the limitations of meta-organizations in expanding, maintaining, and shrinking horizons of collective action. It also calls for further research on how meta-organizations can be deliberately transformative, actively contributing to reordering the world, power dynamics, and relations in pursuit of sustainability and justice. This is critical reading for scholars interested in meta-organizations more broadly, as well as for those who specialize in advancing sustainability and responsibility.
More Papers Like This
When Meta-organizations Enhance Their Capacity for Action: The Role of Hybrid Regulation and Multinational Corporations in Plastic Waste Management
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Researchers studied big companies in Ghana, Ivory Coast, Thailand, and Vietnam that joined forces in groups to help manage plastic waste. The study found these company groups used rules combining government and industry regulation to gain official recognition, which helped them grow membership, gain more resources, and operate with more independence.
Combining CSR and Political Activities of MNCs Through Meta-Organizations: The Case of Plastic Pollution in Emerging Countries
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Researchers analyzed five case studies from West Africa and Southeast Asia showing how multinational corporations use collective meta-organizations to simultaneously pursue CSR goals and shape Extended Producer Responsibility regulation, finding that the success of these hybrid corporate-political strategies depends heavily on national governance quality and the involvement of international organizations.
Who is governing the global plastics crisis? Mapping the global plastics governance landscape
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Despite growing alarm over plastic pollution, including tiny microplastics now found in our food, water, and even our bodies, no single global authority is actually in charge of solving the problem. This study found that the current patchwork of UN agencies, environmental treaties, and industry partnerships mostly shares information and sets voluntary guidelines rather than enforcing real change, and that businesses often use these partnerships to look eco-friendly while continuing normal plastic production. For consumers, this means the burden of reducing plastic exposure and pollution largely falls on individual choices and local regulations, since meaningful global rules aren't yet in place
The difficulties and path of China’s NGOs participating in marine plastic waste governance
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Researchers examined the challenges and pathways for Chinese non-governmental organizations to participate effectively in marine plastic waste governance, analyzing organizational capacity, regulatory frameworks, and stakeholder relationships. The study found that NGOs face significant institutional barriers and recommends policy reforms that provide clearer roles and stable funding for civil society engagement in ocean plastic management.
Taking Action against the Rising Tide of Marine Plastic Pollution. A Case Study of the Surfrider Foundation.
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This thesis analyzes marine plastic pollution as a complex policy problem and examines how NGOs like the Surfrider Foundation mobilize public action and advocate for regulatory change. The work highlights both the structural drivers of single-use plastic culture and the strategies that civil society groups use to counter it.
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When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.