Transcalar Activism Contesting the Liberal International Order: The Case of the World Congress of Families

Abstract

This article explores transnational anti-gender networking promoting “the natural family.” We focus on the World Congress of Families (WCF) and investigate how it is organized transnationally. We draw on international relations theory on challenges to the liberal international order as well as on theories on transcalar activism. The empirical material includes observations from two conferences and material produced by the WCF itself. We discuss the WCF’s role in relation to political polarization, and we also analyze it as a social structure: its actor constellations and new forms of activism. The analysis shows that strategic networking with elites as well as grassroots has rendered the WCF a significant player in global politics.