Agency of Individual Actors in Civil Society Organizations’ Advocacy
A Case Study of the Genesis of the Danish Aliens Act of 1983
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6459517 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Mikkel Witt Syberg (0000-0001-5416-1852, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 242-252 |
| Publication date | 2025-01-21 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Voluntas Revista Internacional de Filosofia (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2179-3786 • E-ISSN: 1573-7888 |
| Publisher | Springer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s11266-024-00712-0 |
| OpenAlex | W4406637869 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 36 |
Research on civil society organizations’ advocacy has predominantly centered on examining societal and organizational structures as determining which organizations that engage in advocacy endeavors and whether they achieve influence. This structural determinism has instigated a growing body of research within the field emphasizing the agency of actors. Thus far, this new body of literature has tended to examine advocacy at the organizational level, thereby neglecting the impact of individual actors. This neglection is inconsistent with a related branch of organization studies, specifically the neo-institutional field, which long has recognized the relevance of studying individual actors’ role in change processes. This paper argues that it is similarly relevant to study the agency of individual actors in civil society organizations’ political advocacy. Through an archival case study utilizing analytical frameworks stemming from the neo-institutional concept of institutional entrepreneurship, the study examines how an individual actor influenced the law preparing process preceding the Danish Aliens Act of 1983. By outlining the significant impact of an individual actor in a legislative process, the paper underscores the need to integrate individual agency into civil society advocacy research to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of civil society organizations’ advocacy
Agency (philosophy · Biology · Cancer · Civil society · Danish · International agency · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Social science · Sociology · Law · Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering · Political Influence and Corporate Strategies · Public Administration
Institutional Entrepreneurship and Change in Fields
Power
Institutions and Institutional Work
Advocacy Activities of Nonprofit Human Service Organizations
How Actors Change Institutions
Institutional Entrepreneurship in Emerging Fields
Government–nonprofit relations in comparative perspective
Managing Legitimacy
NGOs, States and Donors
Western NGOs and Refugee Policy in the Twentieth Century
The good, the bad, and the ugly – Involving civil society organizations in Nordic policy for preventing extremism
Still a trustworthy ally? Civil society and the transformation of Scandinavian democracy
Nonprofit Advocacy Tactics
Advocacy Compromised
Civil Society and Its Institutional Context in CEE
CSO Advocacy and Managing Risk in Hybrid Regimes
NGOs, States, and Donors Revisited
Advocacy in European Civil Societies
Frontiers in Group Dynamics
The Sovereign Limits of Global Civil Society
Interest Group Strategies
Interest Groups and Public Policy
Keeping the Lights On
Interest Group Access to the Bureaucracy, Parliament, and the Media
Agency and Institutions
Institutional Entrepreneurship as Embedded Agency
The Iron Cage Revisited
Institutionalized Organizations
| Highly cited | No |
|---|