Special Issue– The Emergence and Effects of Non-hierarchical Collective Agency. (Johannes Marx & Thomas Gehring)
The emergence of collective agency in non-hierarchical groups is a puzzling phenomenon. It has thus far attracted little systematic scholarly attention, despite its widespread existence in and high relevance for modern political and social life. While bureaucracies or business firms with hierarchical internal structures are widely recognized as collective actors, groups without formal hierarchy may also gain collective agency, e.g., parliamentary committees adopt proposals and international institutions decide on international regulations.
This HSR Special Issue examines theoretical, empirical, and normative issues of collective agency of groups in the absence of hierarchy. It aims to elucidate the mechanisms driving non-hierarchical collective agency and to develop empirically-applicable conceptions of collective actors, their actions, and their effects.