Books & Chapters in Books

2011. Global Action Networks: Creating our future together

See book reviews in the Stanford Social Innovation Review and Long Range Planning.

Description

Traditional approaches are proving inadequate to address big global challenges such as climate change, inequality, war, disease, and environmental degradation.  Over the last 20 years, a new strategy with multi-stakeholder global change networks is providing a robust alternative.  These Global Action Networks (GANs) are a new type of organization, as different from non-profits, governments and businesses as those are from each other.  They hold potential to become a major global governance form for the 21^st century.   Examples include the Global Compact, Transparency International, The Climate Group, Social Accountability International, the Principles for Responsible Investing and the Global Reporting Initiative. 

Although this book will be of interest to anyone involved with global governance and large change issues, this book is written in particular to provide guidance to people interested in further developing GANs. 

Some Comments

"All the great challenges of our time, from climate change to poverty, require private actors to be part of the solution. The search is on to build and nurture effective collaborations so that individual actions become transformative movements within and across countries and regions. Steve Waddell is showing us what works and what doesn’t in the rapidly evolving world of Global Action Networks. This book is not only a superb analysis of the current state of affairs. It also shows pathways for a better future."– Georg Kell, Executive Director of the UN Global Compact Office.

"The concept of Global Action Networks is important for understanding a new, fascinating reality for different actors of governance addressing critical issues in the world. With this book Steve is making a valuable contribution to advancing both the concept and the practice of strengthening governance at every level."– Peter Eigen, Founder – Transparency International (TI) and Chairman – Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI)

Global Action Networks: Creating our future together. Part of the Bocconi (University) on Management Series. Hampshire, UK. Palgrave-Macmillan. 2011. Get Chapter 1 and Table of Contents here. To order in the US/Canada go here. To order elsewhere go here.

2011. Global Finance and the role of Responsible Investors: Real and potential

"Global Finance and the role of Responsible Investors: Real and potential". In Responsible Investment in Times of Turmoil. Eds: W. Vandekerckhove et al. Springer Publishers. 2011.

The socially responsible investment (SRI) phenomenon is said to be entering the mainstream of financial intermediation. From a fairly marginal practice promoted or campaigned for by NGO’s and at odds with financial practice and orthodoxy it grew into well formulated policy adopted by a wide range of investors. Academic literature on SRI has also boomed on the assumption that mainstreaming is taking place. However, little thinking has been carried out on questions specifically arising from this alleged ‘mainstreaming’. This book, addressed to those with a scholarly or practitioner’s interest in SRI, starts filling this neglected dimension.

The first chapter of this book by Steve Waddell describes the global financial system in terms of major institutions with maps. It identifies the current role of responsible investors, and suggests options for them to enhance their influence.

2007.  Multi-stakeholder networks: emerging systems for the global common good.

Lead author with Khagram, Sanjeev. Pp. 261-287 in Partnerships, Governance And Sustainable Development: Reflections on Theory and Practice, edited by P. Glasbergen, F. Biermann, and A. P. J. Mol. Cheltenham Glos, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.

2005. Societal Learning and Change: How Governments, Business and Civil Society are Creating Solutions to Complex Multi-Stakeholder Problems

Societal Learning and Change: How Governments, Business and Civil Society are Creating Solutions to Complex Multi-Stakeholder Problems. Greenleaf Publishing. Sheffield, UK.

"an invaluable guide in building a future we can be proud to leave for our grandchildren" Peter M. Senge

A Greenleaf 

This book is based upon eight cases of multi-stakeholder collaboration around the world and in various goals: road-building (Madagascar), water and sanitation (South Africa), economic development (India), sustainable forestry (Canada), rice production (Philippines) , banking (US), environmental decision-making (global) and corporate reporting (global). From these cases lessons are developed to guide those developing multi-stakeholder collaborations.

Download Chapter One  Buy now from Greenleaf or Amazon.  

2004. The Global Compact as a New Organizational Form:  A Global Action Network

Chapter 20 in  Learning To Talk: The Early Years of the UN Global Compact; Malcolm McIntosh, Sandra Waddock and Georg Kell (eds.), Greenleaf Publishing, Sheffield, UK.

From the Forward by Kofi Annan, Former UN Secretary-General:

When I first introduced the Global Compact at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 1999 I warned that unless more serious consideration were given to social and environmental issues the global economy would grow ever more fragile. I called on business leaders to join a Global Compact as a vehicle for exercising enlightened self-interest: to embrace universal principles in the area of human rights, labour and the environment and to support United Nations goals to contribute to more stable and inclusive markets.

I am delighted to say that business has heeded the call to action. More than 1,200 companies from over 70 countries, as well as dozens of civil-society organisations and global trade unions, are learning how to work together through learning and dialogue. The Compact has inspired a range of new projects on the ground, and many corporations are addressing issues such as human rights for the first time.

In Chapter 20 Steve Waddell discusses the Global Compact’s strategy as a Global Action Network. 

2003. Construyendo sobre los activos de socios potenciales. Partenariados en Foco: Construyendo capacidades para la gestion publico-privada

With Janelle Plummer. Construyendo sobre los activos de socios potenciales. Partenariados en Foco: Construyendo capacidades para la gestion publico-privada. J. Plummer. Argentina, IIED – America Latina: 69-128.

2002. Building on the Assets of Potential Partners

With Janelle Plummer. Chapter 7 in Focusing Partnerships: A Sourcebook for Municipal Capacity-Building in Public-Private Partnerships. London, UK: Earthscan Publications LTD. (for UNDP, DFID University of Birmingham and GHK International).

Private-Public Partnerships are the way forward for urban development in the South as well as in the North. This volume provides an immensely valuable, practical sourcebook on how such partnerships can be developed in ways that meet the needs of the poor and reduce social exclusion. 

Chapter 7 builds on Steve Waddell’s analysis of the distinctive competencies of business, government and civil society as guiding rationales for the formation and design of partnerships.  

2000. Complementary resources: the win-win rationale for partnership with NGOs

Chapter 14 in Blendell, Jem (ed.)Terms for Endearment: Business, NGOs and Sustainable Development. Sheffield, UK: Greenleaf Publications.

With contributions from an outstanding and diverse group of experts from business, consultancy, research institutes, NGOs and academia, Terms for Endearment investigates the how and why of these new collaborations and provides concrete examples of business working with stakeholder pressure for sustainable development. 

In Chapter 14 Steve Waddell lays out the rationale for partnering with NGOs.  

 

1997. Building Bank-Community Based Organization Partnerships

Major author and researcher. Building Bank-Community Based Organization Partnerships. Washington, DC: The National Community Reinvestment Coalition and Department of Housing and Urban Development.