The Rethinking Advocacy Organization project at the Evans School seeks to outline a new agenda for the study of advocacy organizations, including nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and social movement organizations. Advocacy is a collective endeavor, and advocacy NGOs are therefore actors for pursuing collective action. The term ‘advocacy’ suggests a systematic campaign to further a specific policy goal.
This project, led by Mary Kay Gugerty and Aseem Prakash, examines how collective action issues bear upon NGOs’ emergence, structures, accountability, resource acquisition, and advocacy strategies. This is done by modeling advocacy NGOs as special types of firms operating in specific policy markets because advocacy NGOs and firms make analytically similar choices regarding the collective organization of their social, political, and economic activities.
The theoretical framework for the project is outlined in a concept paper (490 KB PDF) by Gugerty and Prakash.
Related Research
In May 2008, the Evans School and Global Business Center at the Foster School hosted a number of scholars to present papers on one or more of the four core project themes of NGO emergence, structure, accountability relationships and resource acquisition and organizational strategy. The papers presented included:
- Institutions, Culture and Advocacy Strategies: Comparing Climate Change and Biodiversity Advocacy in Japan, Germany and the United States (100 KB PDF) by Miranda Schreurs, Freie Universitt Berlin
- The Logic of Advocacy: Strategy and Competition among Organized Interests (92 KB PDF) by McGee Young, Marquette University
- The Strategic Use of Branding by Advocacy Groups (88 KB PDF) by Maryann Barakso, American University
- Structuring Global Advocacy: Explaining Organizational Change and the Emergence of Transnational Networks (132 KB PDF) by Hans Peter Schmitz, The Maxwell School at Syracuse University
- The Market for Human Rights (112 KB PDF)by Clifford Bob, Duquesne University
- Shaping Civic Advocacy: International and Domestic Policies towards Russias NGO Sector (92 KB PDF) by Sarah L. Henderson, Oregon State University
- Religious Institutions as Transnational Actors: An Economic Approach (102 KB PDF) by Anthony Gill, University of Washington
Find out more about our research and reports and publications by contacting us at 206.221.4629 or nbec@u.washington.edu.