International Studies Compendium Project

Extract

Comment on this article   Political advocacy is primarily the mobilization of ideas and people with the goal of influencing the thinking of policy makers or society to either (1) promote a specific point of view or (2) enact policy in the form of laws or programs that benefit the ideas or people. Advocacy happens in many places and on many levels and through different methods. Descriptions for these methods often include words like grass-roots movements, interest groups, lobbying, and social movements. Though the concept is often associated with democratic societies, these types of activities can happen in non-democratic societies as well. Among the assumptions about advocacy are that democratic, pluralistic societies are loci through which there are many voices that want to be heard and the political process should, theoretically, provide as many avenues or forums as possible for those voices to be heard. In non-democratic societies, these activities are traditionally meant to challenge the status quo and are manifest in the form of protests, revolutions, and underground, clandestine activities. There are a variety of explanations for how ideas reach the ears of those who can make a change in a society. These explanations derive from multiple disciplines, comprising models of political, societal, and economic factors that open or restrict the processes by which advocacy is considered ... log in or subscribe to read full text