Abstract
Research on nonprofit advocacy in non-Western settings is still rather limited. In this article, we address this limitation by examining the advocacy practices of nonprofit charitable organizations in Singapore, a non-liberal democratic city-state in Southeast Asia with a history of colonial rule. We ask the following questions: What are the key environmental and organizational factors that influence the scope and intensity of advocacy activities of nonprofit organizations? In particular, what is the effect of the political context on the advocacy strategies and tactics among these organizations? To answer these questions, we present a three-factor explanatory model of nonprofit advocacy incorporating cause, capacity, and context. The research methodology entails a survey of nonprofit executives from a random sample of Singapore human and social service organizations. Our findings shed light on how the various aspects of the political context—perceived opportunities and threats from government intervention and dependence on government funding—shape nonprofit advocacy in a non-Western setting.
Résumé
La recherche portant sur la promotion des organisations à but non lucratif dans un contexte non occidental reste à ce jour assez limitée. Dans cet article, nous nous attelons à combler cette lacune en examinant les pratiques de promotion des organisations de bienfaisance à but non lucratif à Singapour, une cité-état démocratique non libérale d’Asie du Sud-Est ayant un passé colonial. Nous posons les questions suivantes : quels sont les principaux facteurs environnementaux et organisationnels qui influencent le champ et l’intensité des activités de promotion des organisations à but non lucratif ? Plus particulièrement, quel est l’effet du contexte politique sur les stratégies et les tactiques de promotion de ces organisations ? Pour répondre à ces questions, nous présentons un modèle explicatif à trois facteurs : la cause, la capacité et le contexte. Notre méthodologie de recherche s’est appuyée sur une enquête menée auprès de cadres d’un échantillon aléatoire d’organisations à but non lucratif de services sociaux à Singapour. Nos résultats mettent en évidence la façon dont les divers aspects du contexte politique (opportunités et menaces perçues vis-à-vis de l’intervention de l’État et dépendance du financement par l’État) façonnent la promotion des organismes à but non lucratif dans un contexte non occidental.
Zusammenfassung
Die Forschungen zum Thema Interessenvertretung im gemeinnützigen Sektor im nicht-westlichen Kontext sind noch immer sehr beschränkt. In diesem Beitrag gehen wir diese Beschränkung an, indem wir die angewandten Lobbypraktiken gemeinnütziger Organisationen in Singapur, einem nicht-liberalen demokratischen Stadtstaat in Südostasien, der lange einer Kolonialherrschaft unterlag, untersuchen. Hierzu stellen wir folgende Fragen: Welche ökologischen und organisationalen Faktoren sind ausschlaggebend für den Umfang und die Intensität der Lobbyaktivitäten von Nonprofit-Organisationen? Wie wirken sich insbesondere die politischen Rahmenbedingungen auf die Lobbystrategien und -taktiken dieser Organisationen aus? Zur Beantwortung dieser Fragen präsentieren wir ein explanatorisches Drei-Faktoren-Modell zu gemeinnützigen Lobbyaktivitäten, das den Zweck, die Kapazität und den Kontext miteinbezieht. Die Forschungsmethodik beinhaltet eine Befragung von Führungskräften zufällig ausgewählter sozialer Nonprofit-Organisationen in Singapur. Unsere Ergebnisse veranschaulichen, wie sich die verschiedenen Aspekte der politischen Rahmenbedingungen - die empfundenen Möglichkeiten und Gefahren im Zusammenhang mit einer staatlichen Einmischung und der Abhängigkeit von einer staatlichen Finanzierung - auf die Lobbyaktivitäten des gemeinnützigen Sektors in einem nicht-westlichen Kontext auswirken.
Resumen
La investigación sobre la defensa de las organizaciones sin ánimo de lucro en escenarios no occidentales sigue siendo bastante limitada. En el presente artículo, abordamos esta limitación examinando las prácticas de defensa de las organizaciones benéficas sin ánimo de lucro en Singapur, un estado-ciudad democrático no liberal en el Sudeste Asiático con un historial de dominio colonial. Nos hacemos las siguientes preguntas: ¿Cuáles son los factores medioambientales y organizativos claves que influyen en el alcance y la intensidad de las actividades de defensa de las organizaciones sin ánimo de lucro? En particular, ¿cuál es el efecto del contexto político sobre las estrategias y las tácticas de defensa entre estas organizaciones? Para responder a estas preguntas, presentamos un modelo explicativo de tres factores de la defensa de las organizaciones sin ánimo de lucro que incorpora causa, capacidad y contexto. La metodología de investigación implica una encuesta de ejecutivos de organizaciones sin ánimo de lucro de una muestra aleatoria de organizaciones sin ánimo de lucro de servicio social y humano de Singapur. Nuestros hallazgos arrojan luz sobre cómo los diversos aspectos del contexto político - oportunidades y amenazas percibidas de la intervención gubernamental y de la dependencia en la financiación del gobierno - dan forma a la defensa de las organizaciones sin ánimo de lucro en un escenario no occidental.
摘要
关于非西方背景下的非营利性倡导的研究仍然非常有限。为了克服这一局限,本文对新加坡这个位于东南亚的、前殖民地、非自由民主城邦的非营利性慈善组织的倡导工作进行了研究。我们探讨了以下问题:影响非营利组织倡导活动的范围与强度的关键环境与组织因素是什么?尤其是政治环境对这些组织的倡导策略有什么影响?为了回答这些问题,我们建立了关于非营利性倡导的三元(包括动机、能力与背景)阐释模型。我们采用随机抽样的方法对新加坡非营利性社会服务组织的领导者进行了问卷调查。我们的研究结果清楚地说明了:在非西方背景里,政治环境的方方面面—来自政府干预的机遇与威胁以及对政府资助的依赖等等—是如何影响非营利性组织倡导工作的。
ملخص
البحث في الدعم الذي لا يهدف للربح في إعدادات غير- غربية لا يزال محدود نوعا˝ ما. في هذه المقالة ، نحن نعالج هذا القيد من خلال دراسة ممارسات الدعم من المنظمات الخيرية التي لا تهدف للربح في سنغافورة، مدينة- دولة ديمقراطية غير ليبرالية في جنوب شرق آسيا ولها تاريخ من الحكم الإستعماري. نسأل الأسئلة التالية : ما هي العوامل البيئية والتنظيمية الرئيسية التي تؤثر في نطاق وكثافة أنشطة الدعوة للمنظمات التي لا تهدف للربح ؟ على وجه الخصوص، ما هو تأثير السياق السياسي على إستراتيجيات وتكتيكات الدعم بين هذه المنظمات؟ للإجابة على هذه الأسئلة ، فإننا نقدم ثلاثة عوامل كنماذج تفسيرية للدعم الذي لا يهدف للربح لدمج السبب ، القدرة، و السياق. منهجية البحث ينطوي على إستطلاع رأي من مديرين تنفيذيين لا يسعون للربح من عينة عشوائية من سنغافورة لمنظمات الخدمة الإجتماعية والإنسانية الغير ربحية . تسليط الضوء على النتائج التي توصلنا إليها كيف أن مختلف جوانب السياق السياسي - تنظر إلى الفرص والتهديدات من التدخل الحكومي والإعتماد على التمويل الحكومي – ساهم في تشكيل الدعم الذي لا يهدف للربح في الإعدادات الغير- غربية .
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Notes
According to Economist Intelligence Unit (2013), compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit to measure the state of democracy worldwide, countries are placed within one of four types of regimes: full democracies; flawed democracies; hybrid regimes; and authoritarian regimes. Full report is available at: https://portoncv.gov.cv/dhub/porton.por_global.open_file?p_doc_id=1034.
They first asked nonprofit respondents to specify the extent to which they devote volunteer, staff, and financial resources to advocacy. Then, based on responses to these questions, they divided nonprofits that advocate into two groups: core advocacy nonprofits and peripheral advocacy nonprofits.
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Prepared for Consideration in a Special Issue of VOLUNTAS: Theoretical Variations for Voluntary Sector Organizing: Topping off Old Bottles with New Wine.
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Guo, C., Zhang, Z. Understanding Nonprofit Advocacy in Non-Western Settings: A Framework and Empirical Evidence from Singapore. Voluntas 25, 1151–1174 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-014-9468-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-014-9468-8