Expansive and Complex Pathways to World Society

Abstract

The global diffusion of scripts by international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) is well established by world society literature as a key component of globalization. However, most of the literature measures a single type of connection—membership in an INGO. Through a case study of Kenyan environmental organizations, this article expands our understanding by both investigating the diverse pathways connecting global and domestic organizations and the alignment of particular global actors with particular climate change scripts. The results show that Kenyan environmental organizations are connected to world society not only through INGO membership but also through funding sources and trainings. In addition, the actors spreading scripts extends beyond universal INGOs to include international development aid organizations, foreign state-sponsored development agencies, and UN agencies. Last, the results show that different types of global actors support different types of scripts. This contributes to a better understanding of both the expansiveness and the complexity of world society.