Democratic constraint and embrace: Implications for progressive non-government advocacy organisations in Australia

Maddison, Sarah; Denniss, Richard

doi:10.1080/10361140500204025

Cited by 31 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…It could be that NPO's that fulfill an advocacy role do not consider this role as something that yields a conflictual relationship with government. Resource dependence theory implicitly assumes conflict: 'don't bite the hand that feeds you', because that may result in NPO's losing an essential part of their financial resources (Smith and Lipsky 1993;Alexander, Nank et al 1999;Maddison and Denniss 2005;Child and Gronbjerg 2007;FuertesFuertes and Maset-Llaudes 2007;Schmid, Bar et al 2008;Guo and Saxton 2010). But in societies with a third-party government regime, as it is the case in Flanders, we can assume that government-nonprofit relations are based on cooperation rather than on conflict: NPO's that mainly deliver services, and still perform some advocacy functions, may consider advocacy as something that must improve the relationship with government.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonprofit Advocacy Under a Third-Party Government Regime: Cooperation or Conflict?

Verschuere

Corte

2013

Voluntas

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Objective. In this article we examine the NPO's commitment to be involved in advocacy activities and the strategies which they rely on to fulfill this expressive role. We question whether the close (financial) relationship between governments and NPO's in Flanders, especially defined in terms of service delivery, will stifle the NPO's advocacy or rather creates new opportunities for giving NPO's a voice in the development of new public policies as well. Method. Using data from a recent large-N survey of Flemish private nonprofit suppliers in four social welfare areas we will conduct multivariate regression analysis to determine which factors could help us to predict the NPO's advocacy behavior. Results. In general, Flemish NPO's indicate a rather low commitment to their advocacy role. However, once NPO's become politically active they rely on a variety of different strategies, especially by utilizing their insider contacts with policy makers and by joining forces into coalitions with other organizations. Conclusion. Our findings suggest that under third-party government regimes NPO's advocacy does not necessarily have to be seen as something conflictual.Instead, advocacy may lead to further cooperation as NPO's become increasingly recognized by governments for their capacity to enrich public policy making from a grassroots perspective.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonprofit Advocacy Under a Third-Party Government Regime: Cooperation or Conflict?

Verschuere

Corte

2013

Voluntas

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“…A recurring metaphor in scholarly debates and practitioner talk about advocacy work, both in Australia and internationally, is that third sector organizations are increasingly reticent to ''bite the hand that feeds them'' (Roelofs 1987;Smith and Lipsky 1993;Alexander et al 1999;Epstein 1981;Maddison and Denniss 2005). Others suggest that government funding bolsters agency resources, enabling agencies to advocate (Chaves 2004;Kramer 1994).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Advocacy with Gloves on: The “Manners” of Strategy Used by Some Third Sector Organizations Undertaking Advocacy in NSW and Queensland

et al. 2009

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“…Over the past decade many have pointed out the extent to which social movement organisations have become marginalised as 'special interest groups' that allegedly make illegitimate claims upon the Australian 'mainstream' (Sawer 2002, Maddison et al 2004, Maddison & Denniss 2005. This rhetoric reflects the Howard Government's acceptance of public choice theory as a guide for working with the public (see Staples 2006).…”

Section: The Damage Donementioning

confidence: 99%

Lessons to be learned: Reviving advocacy organisations after the neo-con men

Maddison¹

2009

CCS Journal

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The article assesses the impact of the Howard years on non-government advocacy organisations in Australia. It stresses the importance of advocacy in civil society, and in representative democracy. It outlines how this role was undermined, including with regard to the manipulation of contracting-out arrangements. It argues that to regain their former role advocacy organisations will need to reassess their relationships with government-including their funding relationships-and reassert their role as independent analysts and legitimate critics of government power and policy.

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Democratic constraint and embrace: Implications for progressive non-government advocacy organisations in Australia

Cited by 31 publications

References 9 publications

Nonprofit Advocacy Under a Third-Party Government Regime: Cooperation or Conflict?

Nonprofit Advocacy Under a Third-Party Government Regime: Cooperation or Conflict?

Advocacy with Gloves on: The “Manners” of Strategy Used by Some Third Sector Organizations Undertaking Advocacy in NSW and Queensland

Lessons to be learned: Reviving advocacy organisations after the neo-con men

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