PolSc 199 RRL Draft

Introduction

Definition of concepts
Environmental NGOs
Contains a good definition of ENGOs. ENGOs as a group of civil society members
not funded or represented in part by government actors that pursues a common goal
mainly related to issues of ecological protection, or issues related to natural resource
management.
And then there’s warning at the bottom about how some ENGOs do not function this
function:
-be critical of the motivation of NGO actors, some do not encompass grassroots social
movements encompassing social issues
-discrepancies between priorities of ENGOs and government often reveal areas in which
the government has failed to sufficiently address the needs of the people (Schipani)

Rico: The term civil society is used in this study to refer to autonomous
groups or organizations that have been formed by private individuals to
pursue their goals” (Heywood 2002, p. 8 as cited in Rico, 2007, p. 57)
“NGOs and people’s organizations (POs) are examples of civil society groups that
interact with agencies of the state to achieve their interests. They participate in the policy-making
process through direct lobbying activities in the legislature, campaigning through media to
influence public opinion and engaging officials of government agencies.” (Rico, 2007, p. 57)
A. “The democratization process provided the space for the participation of civil
society groups in the policy-making process (Magadia 2003: 28-30).” (Rico,
2007, p. 58)
B. “NGOs and POs have been provided the opportunity to intervene in the formal
legislative process. In fact, the means of intervention of civil society groups
occurs at three levels: personal, through the committees and during the second
and third readings, and in the bicameral conference committee (Bennagen
1999:3)” (Rico, 2007, p. 58)
C. However, the success of civil society intervention depends largely on the ability
of these groups to influence the legislative process as well as the means that they
decide to take. (Rico, 2007, p. 58)
POLICYMAKERS AS ALSO LACKING THE KNOWLEDGE TO CREATE LAWS

Classification of NGOs:
 Slavikova’s classification of NGOs: (From Ayana et al.)
1. ENGOs as watchdogs that monitor existing environmenta; norms, engage in
madatory participation processes, and pursue legal action against environemntally
harmful projects
2. ENGOs as ‘value perceivers’ that promote environmental values beyond existing
regulations and raise citizen awareness
3. ENGOs as ‘field actors and action coordinators’ that provide environemntal public
goods and ensure landscae maintenance
4. ENGOs as ‘knowledge transmitters’ that educate stakeholders and consult land
users’ agendas and problems
5. ENGOs as ‘partners in collaborative governance’ that influence the formulaton and
implementation of public policy

Local Government Policymaking

Policy-making, specifically the legislative process, is considered as a complex process
that involves a variety of actors.” (Rico, 2007, p. 57)
A. “...policy may be defined as the product of interactions including compromises
and bargaining among policy actors.” (Rico, 2007, p. 57)

Relations of concepts

Decision-making process-ENGOs-David Easton’s Process of Decision Making

Factors that affect the DM process:
Problems, Politics, Visible Participants, Hidden Participants
Another one from Kingdon-also had a say on Proess of decision making (De Jesus)

Some Determinants of Interest Group Influence (Dur, 2008):

Issue Characteristic
-interest groups are less likely to be successful in their undertaking when the issue
has far-reaching policy implications
-highly salient issues is likely to deliver a similar trend. It is justified when the
issue has high level of public awareness because the government is more likely to follow public
opinion than interest group opinion.
-presence of countervailing forces
 Interest Group Resources
-financial resources
-size of staff team
-membership presentation
-tactics employed
-type of influence
Political Institutions
-degree of democratic accountability of groups, the more accountable they are, the
more are they likely to take into account the opinions of interest groups
-Media activism and the media politics
New social movements
Discourse theory-takes into consideration the relationship between knowledge, power and
policy as the center of analysis. The focus is on the networks of power behind the practices,
interactions that are put into policy negotiations and contestation. (Frago) Role of the
media-can be included in the strategies

Strategies of Interest Groups

-direct and indirect lobbying tactics
Direct: presenting research or technical information
Indirect: protests, rallies, press conferences etc
Interest groups actually spend more in direct tactics rather than indirect
ones
Indirect and direct process of influence (also in Ayana, et al.)
But others say that this still depends on the other factors
-directional influence vs technical influence
-diretional influence: they try to change the core of legislative act
-technical influence: they try to exert influence without touching the core
of the legislative act
Integration with local interests: (Doe)
Fire management policies has failed before because of the failure to
engage with the locals, Action-oriented format rather than being
theoretically convincing in a concept
Combining indigenous knowledge with expert ideas
High community participation

Greenpeace failed in norway because it conflicted with the local’s

social preferences and visions/cultural difference, this is a manifestation of how
reflecting local interest is crucial in achieveing government approval/attention for
ENGOs (Strømsnes)
 Coordination with local NGOs (Doe)
Coordination of local NGOs with competing interests
Coalition of local NGOs are created

Frame Alignment as a strategy (Zeng)

Frame alignment as a strategy employed by ENGOs
“Framing theory has been widely employed to explain the process of social movements,
especially as part of the process of constructing meaning for involved stakeholders
(Snow and Benford 1988). Various studies confirm how frames, as an ‘organizing idea’,
play a crucial role in organizing and advancing collective action (Gitlin 1980, Gamson and
Wolfsfeld 1993, Benford and Snow 2000, Mertha and Lowry 2006, Mertha 2008).”

a. “In particular, movements tend to be successful when the frames projected align
with the frames of participants to produce resonance between participants and even
possible opponents.”

a. “Frame alignment (Snow et al. 1986, Snow and Benford 1988) refers to the linkage
of a movement organization’s activities, goals and ideology with those of a potential
group of participants (Snow et al. 1986, p. 464).”
b. For example, protesters’ grievances are often framed such that they resonate with
the audience they wish to mobilize. Additionally, claims makers tend to align their frame
with an ‘institutionally embedded frame’ to avoid conflict of interest and gain support
(Morris 2004).
c. Frame alignment’s success is measured by its success to align itself to the vision
of the people it wishes to mobilize.

a. Frame typology and definition, from Yang (1999)

i. ‘responsible/doubtful government’
ii. ‘responsible/doubtful business’
iii. ‘ecological damage’ and
iv. ‘community action’
These frames are used in order to focus attention on something, and attract the populace
of a particular kind

a. Greenpeace had a successful campaign because it analyzed power relations before

its actual campaign (Greenpeace and deforestation case)
b. This paper actually focuses on frame alignment as a tactic of an NGO in forwarding
its goal, but what are the results of these frame alignments?
 Approaches to the study
Process tracing approach-involves systematic and conceptually informed analysis of
diagnostic evidence selected and analyzed in light of research questions
It enables researchers to use multiple sources of evidence and to collect data not only from
historical and contemporary documentation but also by direct measurement through
obervation and systematic interview (Ayana)

Measuring influence of NGOs (De Jesus)

How to measure influence?
Attributed influence approach
Process tracing approach (combine this with Ayana)
Degree of preference attainment approach
Using more than one approach
(From Lansang) The influence of NGOs on public policy is assessed according to the
advocacy coalition (AC) framework. The AC framework is a policy framework that
emphasizes beliefs, policy learning, and preference formation in the policy-making process.
According to Sabatier (1988), who developed the AC framework, policy formation and
change is a function of competing advocacy coalitions within a policy subsystem. A policy
subsystem consists of actors from public and private organizations who are actively
concerned with a policy problem. The actors within a policy subsystem are grouped into a
number of advocacy coalitions that consist of individuals who share a particular belief
system,14 i.e., a set of basic values, causal assumptions, and problem perceptions, and who
show a non-trivial degree of coordinated activity over time. Furthermore, Sabatier and
Jenkins-Smith (1993) add that these advocacy coalitions attempt to realize a set of shared
policy beliefs by influencing the behavior of multiple governmental institutions over time.

the AC framework assumes that individuals not only act on the basis of their preferences,
but also on the basis of their beliefs which include moral values that change and are
endogenously determined.
The AC framework sees that preferences and beliefs change and are endogenously
determined, and that information and learning play active and central roles. Information is
filtered through belief systems and cognitive processes as an individual decides what
information to accept, reject, or reinterpret. Furthermore, this information is used to
improve strategies which may also result in changes in goals and beliefs, which in turn,
could change policies.
Limitations/gaps in literature
Some difficulties in measuring ENGO influence
-diversity of channels of influence
-counteractive lobbying
-influence on several stages of policy-making process (De Jesus)

conclusion

Class notes: are your cases complete

Internal and external validity
Natural comparator is the philippines
Validity increases when there is a systematic way of gathering data