Transnational Boycotts

Civil society organizations and movements repeatedly call for boycotts of companies or states. Even in the early 19th century, the transnational movement against slavery called for a boycott of products in whose production slaves were involved.
 
Calls for boycotts by civil society can be directed against companies, industries and against states. They are one of the few instruments with which civil society organizations and movements seek to coerce other actors to change their policies or behavior. 

The project investigates under which conditions calls for boycotts by civil society are successful meaning that target actors change their behavior. The project investigates transnational civil society boycotts from the 1970s until today. Boycotts against non-state actors are compared with those against states in similar policy fields. The aim of the project is to identify characteristics of non-state coercion and conditions for its success.