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Advocacy Compromised : How Financial, Organizational and Institutional Factors Shape Advocacy Strategies of Civil Society Organizations

Arvidson, Malin LU ; Johansson, Håkan LU and Scaramuzzino, Roberto LU (2018) In Voluntas 29(4). p.844-856
Abstract

Key functions of civil society organizations (CSOs) are to criticize governments and to hold them to account. Recent trends of privatization and contracting out challenge CSOs’ opportunities to voice such criticism. The purpose of this article is to analyse whether and why CSOs ‘hold back their criticism’ of public authorities, and how a compromised advocacy can be linked to financial, organizational and institutional factors. The article draws on an original survey of 2678 Swedish CSOs. The analyses show that certain levels of funding make CSOs more likely to hold back in their criticism, but also organizational and institutional factors play a role. The results identify the importance of distinguishing between objective and subjective... (More)

Key functions of civil society organizations (CSOs) are to criticize governments and to hold them to account. Recent trends of privatization and contracting out challenge CSOs’ opportunities to voice such criticism. The purpose of this article is to analyse whether and why CSOs ‘hold back their criticism’ of public authorities, and how a compromised advocacy can be linked to financial, organizational and institutional factors. The article draws on an original survey of 2678 Swedish CSOs. The analyses show that certain levels of funding make CSOs more likely to hold back in their criticism, but also organizational and institutional factors play a role. The results identify the importance of distinguishing between objective and subjective factors related to how dependency is framed. It is the felt needs, experiences and perceptions of CSOs themselves that make hem prone to the strategic choice to hold back criticism of public authorities.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Advocacy, Civil society organizations, Competition, Resource dependence, Service function
in
Voluntas
volume
29
issue
4
pages
844 - 856
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • scopus:85027179117
ISSN
0957-8765
DOI
10.1007/s11266-017-9900-y
project
Beyond the welfare state: Europeanization of Swedish civil society organizations (EUROCIV)
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
4d3003fc-adcf-47f7-b615-878c277d5595
date added to LUP
2017-08-29 13:08:04
date last changed
2022-04-17 03:56:59
@article{4d3003fc-adcf-47f7-b615-878c277d5595,
  abstract     = {{<p>Key functions of civil society organizations (CSOs) are to criticize governments and to hold them to account. Recent trends of privatization and contracting out challenge CSOs’ opportunities to voice such criticism. The purpose of this article is to analyse whether and why CSOs ‘hold back their criticism’ of public authorities, and how a compromised advocacy can be linked to financial, organizational and institutional factors. The article draws on an original survey of 2678 Swedish CSOs. The analyses show that certain levels of funding make CSOs more likely to hold back in their criticism, but also organizational and institutional factors play a role. The results identify the importance of distinguishing between objective and subjective factors related to how dependency is framed. It is the felt needs, experiences and perceptions of CSOs themselves that make hem prone to the strategic choice to hold back criticism of public authorities.</p>}},
  author       = {{Arvidson, Malin and Johansson, Håkan and Scaramuzzino, Roberto}},
  issn         = {{0957-8765}},
  keywords     = {{Advocacy; Civil society organizations; Competition; Resource dependence; Service function}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{844--856}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Voluntas}},
  title        = {{Advocacy Compromised : How Financial, Organizational and Institutional Factors Shape Advocacy Strategies of Civil Society Organizations}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11266-017-9900-y}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s11266-017-9900-y}},
  volume       = {{29}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}