For the global studies scholar, the lofty ambitions in are challenging ones. Since ours is a collective endeavour, the global studies community needs just a few more practical footholds to systematically fill critical gaps in our knowledge without being overwhelmed by the complexities of globalities and globalizations. I attempt to rearticulate the strength of Steger and James' framework and propose an illustration that encompasses the major elements of their framework. I suggest places where the framework might be strengthened and lead the way for a productive, coherent, and collective effort among scholars of globalization and global studies. I offer possible conceptual guideposts to strengthen elements of their framework with the goal of offering a few practical, conceptual footholds to move scholarship forward. I sketch a few topics within 'globalization matters' that illustrate my suggestions for pursuing systematic elaborations of the proposed conceptual guidelines.

Tracing the Thai cassava () trade network, between 1960 and 2000, offers a compelling example of global complexity at work. The emergence of Thailand's dominance of world export markets caught the world by surprise. The opening up of a European market for cassava was supposed to be met by Brazilian and Indonesian producers. Instead, Thailand took over the market by 1975. Several factors facilitated this emergence including: entrepreneurial diasporic networks of Thai-Chinese traders, local political economy conditions in both Europe and Thailand, and ecological conditions in Thailand. These same factors also shaped the subsequent timing of the closing of the European market, the emergence of a new industry association, the creation of new cassava products, and the expansion to other markets. Furthermore, the dynamic nature of cassava market yielded equivocal outcomes for both Europe and Thai farmers.

Land is a key input in economic production and production-waste sink. This links land to the causes of and responses to climate change. The dominant climate action ideas are based on the concept of 'land tenure security' which, in a global context marked by land-based inequities, means ratifying what already exists. This reinforces undemocratic social structures and institutions that themselves contribute to climate change. A restructuring of global land politics is called for, without which any analyses of and responses to climate change are at best superficial, and at worst, flawed and self-defeating. What is needed is to acknowledge the pervasive land-based social inequities in the world, and to end such inequities by pursuing a redistribution of a range of access to a range of land and resources in ways that categorically benefit the working people.

The effective integration of the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainability by actors in all sectors is a core objective of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Do trade unions, as important socio-economic actors, contribute to this agenda by aligning with environmental concerns? We conducted a qualitative content analysis of primary documentary sources from the International and European Trade Union Confederations focussing on the 2012-2022 period. We complemented this with in-depth interviews from The Netherlands and Belgium. We found that trade unions have been 'greening' their discourses and initiatives, and cooperating more with environmental movements. They also use the SDGs not only as discursive frames, but also to shape concrete initiatives. However, they overwhelmingly see greening still in instrumental terms rather than as a transformative prioritization of environmental concerns. This is reflected in their engagement with the SDGs, as unions shape the implementation of the SDGs according to their priorities.

While some of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) rely on the support of established international organizations and regimes, others lack strong institutions in their governance areas. This raises the question of whether the SDGs can contribute to strengthening these less institutionalized areas in global governance, which would make these goals important factors in advancing international institutionalization. We study this question with a focus on SDG 12, which targets sustainable consumption and production. By analysing in-depth 49 documents and 19 expert interviews, we trace institutional development (2012-2022) focusing on two initiatives, the 10-Year Framework of Programmes for Sustainable Consumption and Production and the later One Planet Network. We indicate mechanisms through which SDGs have influenced international institutionalization processes and some conditions for this impact. However, while the SDGs might offer a temporary impetus to further institutionalization, they do not provide a lasting solution to the challenge of advancing global institutionalization.

This article explores Indian civil society's efforts to promote the rights of migrant Indian labourers working abroad in low-wage employment as a response to weakly institutionalized rights frameworks in the global and India's national governance of labour migration. Existing scholarship has explored civil societies' advocacy in multi-national fora, at regional levels, and as forms of transnationally organized networks, but only marginally at the analytical level of migrant-origin states. The article examines their multi-level and multi-stakeholder strategies through the analytical lens of spaces for engagement. Drawing on original qualitative data, this article shows that civil society organizations play a leading role in (e)migration governance in India and are key to understanding the politics of migration of the world's largest migrant-origin state. In particular, the local and subnational levels are important entry points to advance their agendas in the context of migrant-origin states.