Situating Transnational Administration in a Global Space: Concept, Theory, and Importance

This paper defines "transnational administration" and identifies its importance within an active global space in which multiple actors (states, civil society, private actors, and international organizations) interact, coordinate, and collaborate with each other to create and implement global policy. This is a contested space where multiple values, rules, processes and laws create an often-conflicted layering of both ideas and the administrative apparatus assigned to address common sub-regional, regional, and global concerns. Transnational administration is also a contested term with influences from disciplines such as international relations, public administration, and organizational sociology. By detailing its theoretical influences and delineating the differences among transnational administration, international public administration, comparative/development administration, and global administration, this paper helps create an arena whereby scholars and practitioners might deeply engage the comparative, theoretical, and practical importance of an increasingly institutionalized (and administered) global governance arena.