Deliberative Democracy and Advocacy: Lessons from a Comparative Perspective

Abstract

This study focuses on the meanings of advocacy and lobby as well as how these activities are performed in Brazil and the United States. By considering different contexts and historical developments, we analyze the activities of three civil society organizations to understand how they operate as legitimate groups whose advocacy activities expand the concept of democratic representation. The study concludes that advocacy fosters a deliberative type of democracy, which presumes that citizens have the right to participate in public discussion and deliberation. The study indicates that different stages of advocacy and lobbying processes, the influence of regulatory framework, the difficulties to act in coalition due to ideological differences, and members' private interests shape the main characteristics of civil society organizations' (CSOs) advocacy policies.

Exploring Nonprofit Advocacy Research Methods and Design: A Systematic Review of the Literature

“…An example of organizations as the primary level of analysis is Kerlin and Reid's (2010) study of environmental advocacy groups, which explored the different structures and strategies these organizations used based on their Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax determination, finding that organizations more likely to engage in advocacy had a 501 (c) (4) organization as their "anchor" corporation. However, studies with an organizational focus included such diverse topics as the use of direction action tactics by the nonprofit group ACORN (Brooks, 2005), to a comparative analysis of the meaning and tactics of advocacy between the U.S. and Brazilian organizations (de Brelàz & Aquino Alves, 2011). An example of one of the few studies focused on individuals is Nesbit's (2017) study on the demographic characteristics associated with volunteering for advocacy groups.…”

Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences: A Retrospective Review Using Bibliometric Analysis

“…The most cited articles in this cluster concentrate on native and non‐native culture (64 citations) (Redpath & Nielsen, 1997), technological innovativeness (56 citations) (Kitchell, 1997), and the dynamics of turnarounds (48 citations) (Chowdhury, 2002). Other notable topics covered in this cluster include advocacy and democracy (de Brelàz & Alves, 2011), cooperation and competition (Tjosvold, 1990), government policies and regulatory intervention (Foster & Meinhard, 2002; Rhee & Kim, 2018), industrial relations (Jain, 1985), market environment (Dastmalchian & Boag, 1988), mergers and acquisitions (Zagelmeyer et al., 2018), sociomateriality (Moura & Bispo, 2020), research and development (Persaud et al., 2002), among others.…”

Introduction: Critical Approaches to Comparative Studies in Organizations: From Current Management Knowledge to Emerging Agendas

“…The two articles that complete this special feature are good examples of the kind of research needed to recognize the tensions produced through hybridism and market rationality. In their article, de Brelàz and Aquino Alves () developed a comparative study between three civil society organizations in two contrasting countries, Brazil and the US, to show the complexities of deliberative democracy. They worked to elucidate the specific meaning and performance of advocacy and lobby in these two societies.…”