scholarly journals Why Join? How Civil Society Organizations’ Attributes Signal Congruence and Impact Community Engagement

Author(s):  
Simon Hoellerbauer

Abstract Civil society organizations (CSOs) can facilitate collective action. This makes understanding what shapes whether people are likely to engage with CSOs critically important. This paper argues that whether an organization is perceived as congruent – similar to an individual in values – is a key determinant of whether individuals will engage with it. I use a conjoint survey experiment to test how organizational attributes signaling congruence influence respondents’ willingness to attend a hypothetical organization’s meetings. I find that individuals are more likely to choose organizations that are more likely to be congruent with them, except when it comes to funding. These findings imply that an individual’s level of comfort with a CSO matters for engagement; thus, CSOs need to consider how they match to their publics when reaching out to potential joiners. Furthermore, donors seeking to support CSOs need to pay attention to their impact on perceptions of congruence.

Author(s):  
Moises Villamil Balestro ◽  
Marcelle Vaz

O artigo contribui para entender melhor a dinâmica dos atores transnacionais, articulada com os contextos nacionais, lançando olhar sobre as diferenças nos casos brasileiro e argentino. O trabalho se insere em um contexto maior de transformações do capitalismo na América Latina e seus processos econômicos que têm impacto nos processos sociais. A América Latina não representa uma realidade única, homogênea e monocromática. Com base no diálogo entre teorias da sociologia e da ciência política com a teoria organizacional, o artigo apresenta categorias analíticas que contribuem para entender a sustentabilidade da articulação transnacional. Três elementos chaves para essa reprodução social da ação coletiva foram a identidade das organizações nacionais, a coordenação entre elas e a retroalimentação do campo estratégico de ação. A sustentabilidade da ação coletiva é entendida a partir da dinâmica dos atores nacionais, as organizações da sociedade civil (OSCs) do Brasil e da Argentina dentro da articulação transnacional. O cenário atual de crise econômica e de crise democrática na região, com a intensificação do neoliberalismo e a erosão dos espaços de participação cidadã no MERCOSUL permitirão testar o grau de resiliência da ação coletiva transnacional nos próximos anos.Palavras-chave: Ação coletiva transnacional; sociedade civil organizada; América Latina; reprodução socialThe Transnational Collective Action and the Elements Contributing to its Sustainability: the case of MESAAbstractThe article contributes to a better understanding of the dynamics of transnational actors embedded in the national contexts. The article scrutinizes the differences between the cases of Brazil and Argentina. The transnational actors are part of a larger context of transformations of capitalism in Latin America. Latin America does not represent a single, homogeneous and monochromatic reality. Based on the dialogue between theories of sociology and political science with organizational theory, the article puts forward analytical categories that contribute to understanding the sustainability of the transnational articulation. Three key elements for this social reproduction of collective action were the identity of the national organizations, the coordination among them and the strategic field of action. The sustainability of collective action is understood from the dynamics of national actors, civil society organizations (CSOs) in Brazil and Argentina within the transnational articulation. The current scenario of economic crisis and democratic crisis in the region, with the deepening of neoliberalism and the erosion of the arenas for citizen participation in MERCOSUR will be able to test the degree of resilience of transnational collective action in the coming years.Keywords: transnational collective action; organised civil society; Latin America; social reproductionLa Acción Colectiva Transnacional y los Elementos que Contribuyen a su Sostenibilidad: el caso de la MESAResumen El artículo contribuye a un mejor entendimiento de la dinámica de los actores transnacionales integrados en los contextos nacionales. El trabajo analiza las diferencias entre los casos de Brasil y Argentina. Los actores transnacionales son parte de un contexto más amplio de transformaciones del capitalismo en América Latina. Los países de América Latina no representan una realidad única, homogénea y monocromática. Basado en el diálogo entre las teorías de la sociología y la ciencia política con la teoría de la organización, el artículo presenta categorías analíticas que contribuyen para entender la sostenibilidad de la articulación transnacional. Tres elementos clave para esta reproducción social de la acción colectiva fueron la identidad de las organizaciones nacionales, la coordinación entre ellas y el campo de acción estratégico. La sostenibilidad de la acción colectiva se entiende a partir de la dinámica de los actores nacionales, las organizaciones de la sociedad civil (OSC) en Brasil y Argentina dentro de la articulación transnacional. El escenario actual de crisis económica y crisis democrática en la región, con la profundización del neoliberalismo y la erosión de los espacios de participación ciudadana en el MERCOSUR, pondrá a prueba el grado de resiliencia de la acción colectiva transnacional en los próximos años.Palabras clave: acción colectiva transnacional; sociedad civil organizada; América Latina; reproducción social


2019 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Niedzwiecki ◽  
Santiago Anria

ABSTRACTBolivia and Brazil have universalized their pension and healthcare systems, respectively. Civil society organizations participated actively in social policy expansion, yet they have done so in starkly different ways, reflecting general patterns in each country. Whereas in Brazil, popular participation in social policies takes place through “inside” formal channels, such as conferences and councils, in Bolivia, bottom-up influence occurs mostly via “outside” channels, by coordinating collective action in the streets. Understanding forms of popular participation matters because policies that allow for popular input are potentially more representative, universal, and nondiscretionary. This article argues that differences in the forms of popular participation in social policy expansion can be explained by the characteristics of the institutional context and differences in the types of movements engaged in the policymaking process. By focusing on patterns of participation, these findings add nuance to the literature on Latin America’s welfare states.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 14-27
Author(s):  
Lichia Y iu ◽  
Raymond Saner ◽  
Roland Bardy

Maintaining and expanding public goods is synonymous with promoting sustainable development but discussions are needed to clarify how policies need to be coordinated to enable collective action on public goods. Collective action for Public Goods will only be successful if all who partake in such actions can gain complimentary benefits that would be either more costly or impossible to achieve without the collective effort. Such complementary benefits are possible provided all stakeholders contributing to the public good of social peace and social cohesion cooperate with each other and preserve this and other public goods be they citizens, civil society organizations, all public authorities and all business firms. This concerted effort for a good cause can certainly be coined “ethics in action” – a notion which exhibits the moral foundation of the private and public choices inherent in sustainable development implementation of which interactions amongst stakeholders are no longer transactional, but rather aspiring toward greater good. Civil society organizations are key stakeholders producing, maintaining, and benefitting from Public Goods. They should strive for full inclusion, as there are many people who are either excluded or under-provided with respect to public goods. Public authorities, another key stakeholder group, need to cooperate with other stakeholders through collaborative frameworks and mechanisms for collective action that bind states and international organizations at a global scale. Another important stakeholder group, private and public enterprises need to operate within a level playing field globally, conduct business based on Responsible Business criteria and be welcomed to contribute to Public Goods creation in a sustainable and proactive manner without causing negative impacts due to their business activities. This paper presents and discusses how collective action can be achieved through concerted efforts by all members of society aiming to produce and maintain public goods essential for the sustained and equitable functioning of society. The UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development serves as a shared roadmap in achieving a shared future. Keywords: Collective Action, Public Goods, Sustainable Development, Corporate Social Responsibility, UN Agenda 2030.


2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 858-882
Author(s):  
Peter VonDoepp

AbstractWhy does collective resistance to democratic backsliding emerge in some contexts and not others? The experience of Malawi in 2011–2012 offers an opportunity to explore this question. In the face of attacks on democratic rights and institutions, large-scale popular and civil society mobilization challenged the government’s authoritarian tendencies. Drawing on collective action theories and comparing Malawi’s experience to that of Zambia, VonDoepp argues that Malawi’s resistance arose in an environment that was favorable to its emergence. Economic conditions had generated grievances against government, polarization remained modest, and civil society organizations benefitted from credibility and the presence of allies that facilitated activism.


Author(s):  
Bernard Enjolras ◽  
Ivar Eimhjellen

This chapter introduces the book’s main topics and analytical frame. With the development of societal meta-processes of change such as digitalization, individualization and globalization, the condition of collective action are under transformation. The main question, addressed by this book, is whether a new form of collective action – connective action – can be empirically identified when looking at the late developments in Norway. The need for formal organizations and selective incentives has been emphasized as a solution to the “collective action problem”. Digitalization, by enabling “organizing without organizations” is expected to enhance new forms of collective action that are more individualized and do not require formal organizations. Additionally, since digital networks cross territorial boundaries, collective action is expected to take a transnational character. With such a backdrop, the contributions assembled in this book, based on extensive empirical investigations, examine the extent to which digitalization transforms civic engagement, whether the boundary between volunteerism and political activism are becoming increasingly blurred, whether new organizing forms are emerging in the wake of digitalization, and whether it is possible to identify new forms of transnational collective action. Taken together, the contributions to this book do not support the emergence of a new form of collective action. On the contrary, in spite of the transformations affecting the forms of collective action and civic engagement, the empirical evidence emphasize the continued importance of the infrastructure constituted of civil society organizations for supporting collective action.


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