NGO Soul + Strategy 055. Digital advocacy NGOs: a necessary, complementary force: Nina Hall
Summary
What are the characteristics of 'digitally native' campaigning organizations?
How do digital NGO campaigning organizations compare and contrast with traditional, 'brick and mortar' NGOs?
Do digitally native civil society organizations and traditional NGOs sufficiently seek to complement each other, in order to maximize impact? I don't think they do.
In this NGO Soul+Strategy podcast episode, I interview Nina Hall, Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Johns Hopkins University, on my episode 'Digital advocacy NGOs: a necessary, complementary force'.
Nina’s Bio:
- Associate Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies, Europe
- Nina's research explores the role of transnational advocacy and international organizations in international relations
- Published research on advocacy organizations and multilateral institutions
- Author of the recent book Transnational Advocacy in the Digital Era, Think Global, Act Local (Oxford University Press, 2022)
- DPhil (Ph.D.) in International Relations from the University of Oxford
We discuss:
- Nina studies progressive national digital advocacy and other digital campaigning organizations
- Digital advocacy organizations use digital campaigning tactics such as online petitioning, combined with offline tactics such as street mobilization, offline meetings with campaign targets, etc.
- Digital advocacy organizations are less likely to work on issues that are less broadly popular, such as minority rights issues
- Nina pushes back on the use of the word ‘platform’ for digital advocacy organizations since the actors she studies have actual HQs, paid staff, etc.
- The kind of digital advocacy organizations that Nina studies have most potential to be effective in more or less democratic societies, where they are in a position to pressure elected or appointed decision-makers
- The profile of most ‘members’ (i.e. supporters) of digital advocacy organizations is that of middle-class, educated, urban citizens with adequate internet access
- What are the strengths and weaknesses of this type of digital advocacy organization, as compared to those of traditional NGOs?
- What's the difference between staff-stewarding campaigning approaches versus member-driven approaches?
Resources:
Nina’s book: Transnational Advocacy in the Digital Era: Thinking Global, Acting Local, Oxford University Press, 2022
Nina's book recently won the ISA ICOM best book prize, see HERE
Stanford Social Science Innovation Research excerpt of Nina's book - HERE
Twitter thread by Nina on the book – HERE
Youtube video