CIAO DATE: 12/2008
November 2008
Danish Institute for International Studies
The 'network' has become a popular metaphor in debates over changing forms of social organisation, politics, governance and state regulation. New information technologies and current processes of globalisation have turned the 'network' into a key concept for description and analysis of the world as constituted through flows and complex activities.
This paper explores Malaysia's bid to become the world leader in rapidly expanding lawful halal markets on a global scale. Over the last three decades, a powerful state nationalism has emerged, represented by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the dominant political party in Malaysia. The state has effectively certified, standardised and bureaucratised Malaysian halal production, trade and consumption. Now, the vision is to export this model, and for that purpose the network as a strategic metaphor is being evoked to signify connectedness and prescriptions of organisation vis-à-vis more deep-rooted networks. Building on empirical material from research in Malaysia and
Britain, the working paper shows how halal networks are understood and practised in a metaphorical sense.
The present working paper emerges from the 'Markets for Peace? Informal economic networks and political agency' research network sponsored by the Danish Social Science Research Council (FSE) and hosted by DIIS during 2007 and 2008. The aim of the interdisciplinary research network was to gain a better understanding of the role and significance of informal economic networks on political processes. The research network explored the dynamics of such networks; national, regional and international attempts to regulate them; and the ways in which informal economic network activities are or are not converted into political influence.
Resource link: 'Cast the Net Wider': How a Vision of Global Halal Markets is Overcoming Network Envy [PDF] - 560K