Introduction: unsustainable institutions of men

Men, masculinities and gender relations exist locally, but are not only local – as if they ever were. In the scholarly, political and policy communities engaged in critical discussions on men and masculinities there has been a gradual move from talking about the local to a much broader view. This latter take goes under various labels, for example, the global, transnational, postcolonial, decolonial(izing), as well as often addressing what come to called global North–South or more accurately metropole/centre–semiperiphery–periphery dynamics (Blagojević 2009). In this book we build on and add to these moves through a focus on what men and masculinities do in the basic functioning, and indeed changing, of the institutions that support and enact multiple transnational processes. As such, we are indebted to the growing scholarship that engages explicitly with the relations between men, masculinities, gender, intersectionality, globalization, and transnationalizations. ¹ We interrogate those connections, and wish to contribute to thinking and reflection on institutional alternatives which could contribute to more inclusive, democratic, decolonializing and feminist transnational dialogues and futures. ²