The Global Animal Advocacy Movement in International Relations: toward an animal-inclusive IR
| Published date | 01 September 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/00471178231191296 |
| Author | Steven Tauber |
| Date | 01 September 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/00471178231191296
International Relations
2023, Vol. 37(3) 475 –496
© The Author(s) 2023
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DOI: 10.1177/00471178231191296
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The Global Animal Advocacy
Movement in International
Relations: toward an
animal-inclusive IR
Steven Tauber
University of South Florida
Abstract
International Relations (IR) scholarship on Global Social Movements (GSMs) has helped usher in
post-realist theories, such as constructivism and critical IR. Despite its innovativeness, extant GSM
research is limited because it ignores the relevance of the Global Animal Advocacy Movement
(GAAM), which seeks to end animal exploitation. The omission of GAAM is emblematic of IR’s
anthropocentric disregard of the relevance of animals in global politics. An emergent literature
recognizes the importance of animals in IR, and this paper contributes to the establishment of
this animal-inclusive IR by examining the significance of GAAM. First, it demonstrates that GAAM
fits the criteria of a GSM; therefore, it is worthy of study in IR. Additionally, this paper argues
that IR should recognize that nonhuman animals also participate in GAAM. Both arguments not
only demonstrate GAAM’s relevance, but they should also contribute to the development of
an animal-inclusive IR. The paper closes by advocating for a methodologically diverse research
agenda on GAAM.
Keywords
animal advocacy, anthropocentrism, global social movements, social justice
Introduction
Since the 1990s, activists have extensively mobilized throughout the world to improve
the treatment of nonhuman animals. For example, animal rights NGOs have lobbied
European governments to ban slaughter techniques that do not stun animals prior to
Corresponding author:
Steven Tauber, School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies, University of South Florida, 4202 East Fowler
Avenue, SOC 107, Tampa, FL 33620, USA.
Email: stauber@usf.edu
1191296IRE0010.1177/00471178231191296International RelationsTauber
research-article2023
Article
476 International Relations 37(3)
killing them. These efforts have been successful (e.g. Belgium, Germany, Greece, and
Netherlands), despite opposition from some Jewish and Muslim groups, whose religions
require adherents to eat meat from animals who were not stunned before being killed.1
Additionally, in 2022, members of the group Direct Action Everywhere, which has
‘mobilized thousands to take action in hundreds of cities worldwide’,2 made interna-
tional news by disrupting the National Basketball Association playoff games because
Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor brutally killed millions of chickens on his
farms to prevent the spread of Avian Flu.3 Also in 2022, Ecuador’s Constitutional Court
ruled that because its constitution contains a provision explicitly recognizing the rights
of nature and because nonhuman animals are constituents of nature, animals possess
legal rights, subject to their needs and capacities. For advanced species such as monkeys
(the subject of the case), these rights include freedom from being hunted or taken from
the wild.4 Although an Ecuadorian citizen initially filed this case, two American organi-
zations – the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP)5 and the Brooks McCormick, Jr. Animal
Law & Policy Program at Harvard law School (ALPP)6 – filed an influential amicus
curiae brief in this case.7 Graduate students from the Autonomous University of Barcelona
Program in Animal Law & Society helped as well.8
These vignettes describe activities of the Global Animal Advocacy Movement
(GAAM), which is a transnational social movement consisting of organizations and
activists who seek to improve the well-being of nonhuman animals. Despite GAAM’s
extensive work in global politics, the field of International Relations (IR) has essentially
ignored it as an area of inquiry. Furthermore, IR’s omission of GAAM is emblematic of
the field’s overall anthropocentrism that focuses only on human beings and ignores the
significance of animals in international affairs. This paper contributes to the de-anthro-
pocentricization of IR and the development of an animal-inclusive IR by explaining why
GAAM is relevant to global politics.
GSM studies have significantly influenced the IR field. Traditional IR schools of
realism and liberalism emphasized interstate relations and generally ignored extra-
state actors, such as social movements. By focusing on Global Social Movements
(GSM), IR scholars looked beyond the state as the primary force in global policy,
which in turn advanced more contemporary schools, such as constructivism and criti-
cal IR. Just as the study of GSMs expanded IR’s theoretical boundaries, this paper
argues that studying GAAM should expand IR beyond its anthropocentric limits to
embrace an animal-inclusive approach.
As the other articles in this special issue contend, IR should regard nonhuman9 ani-
mals as significant in global politics. In short, IR needs to embrace an animal-inclusive
framework. This article seeks to rectify this deficiency by demonstrating the relevance of
GAAM to GSM and more broadly to IR. Specifically, I argue that despite IR and GSM
scholars’ disregard of animals, GAAM exemplifies a GSM and thus must be considered
a key factor in global politics. The second part of the argument maintains that in addition
to the human members, animals are also important participants in GAAM because
humans and animals can have a collective identity and animals engage in their own
struggle for liberation. By articulating the importance of both human and nonhuman
GAAM activists, this paper will initiate an important conversation that should impel IR
toward an animal-inclusive theoretical direction.
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