The Power of Advocacy

This chapter looks at how advocacy works. ‘Advocacy’ here is defined as the process of influencing decision makers to change their policies and practices, attitudes, or behaviours. It typically targets the institutions described in this book, be they formal (states, courts, political parties, corporations, and international bodies) or informal (norms and public attitudes). The chapter analyses advocacy work in the systems thinking framework. It argues that getting advocacy right requires political maturity, the right combination of tactics and allies, and making the most of windows of opportunity as they come along. More subtly, good advocacy requires a mindset that finds each different context fascinating, one that embraces ambiguity and complexity, one that empathizes with how different people see the world, and one that learns from mistakes and responds to changing events.

Ambiguity · Context (archaeology) · Epistemology · Maturity (psychological) · Mindset · Political science · Politics · Power (physics) · Public relations · Sociology · Work (physics) · Computer Science · Engineering · Evaluation and Performance Assessment · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · Law · Peacebuilding and International Security · Public Administration

• Celebrity Advocacy and International Development

  Open Access•Dan Brockington•Celebrity Advocacy and…•2014

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