The Relationship of Leadership Quality to the Political Presence of Civic Associations

Abstract

Member-based civic associations, or citizen groups, have two crucial roles in American democracy. They advocate for members' interests in the public arena, but also operate as Tocquevillian “schools of democracy” linking citizens to politics and equipping them with the skills of democratic citizenship. Yet scant research has examined the interrelationships of these two roles. Does the work that civic associations do in developing democratic participants enhance the work they do advocating for members' interests in the public arena? We bring together two previously disparate strands of research on civic associations by arguing that a key factor affecting the political presence of civic associations is leadership quality. We focus on the relationship of leadership quality to political presence, using data from a unique 2003 study of 226 local entities of the Sierra Club. We show that organizations with more skilled and committed leaders have higher levels of political presence. This contrasts with previous research that has focused primarily on community context and resources as explanatory factors. This study shows that political presence is related to the extent to which leaders develop their skills and demonstrate commitment to the organization.

The impact of organisational attributes on political participation: results of a multi‐level survey from Switzerland

“…Similar positive effects on various forms of political participation were established by LeRoux (2007) in relation to organisations that receive government funding. Closely related to that argument is that by Han et al (2011), who demonstrate how organisations with skilled and committed leaders have more political presence and thus supposedly should be better able to support individual political participation 5…”

“…4 Similar positive effects on various forms of political participation were established by LeRoux (2007) in relation to organisations that receive government funding. Closely related to that argument is that by Han et al (2011), who demonstrate how organisations with skilled and committed leaders have more political presence and thus supposedly should be better able to support individual political participation. 5 Accordingly, we hypothesise that associations function as a bridge between individual citizens and the local elite and consequently, that membership in associations that have strong ties to the local political elite offers better opportunities to become engaged.…”

Institutional supply, public demand, and citizen capabilities to participate in environmental programs in Mexico and India

“…Yet research from the developed world shows that even where the supply of participatory institutions is not a major constraint, most people do not participate in political processes not only because some are excluded, but also because many lack interest in participation (Verba and Nie 1972;Brady et al 1995;Schlozman et al 2012). The resulting political decisions therefore tend to favor the interests of organized elites (Schatttschneider 1975;Schlozman et al 2012; Gilens and Page 2014) except when citizens build strong organizations, embedded in existing social networks, that enable them to challenge elite power (Han 2009(Han , 2014Han et al 2011).…”

Sunday School Teacher, Culture Warrior: The Politics of Lay Leaders in Three Religious Traditions*

“…Finally, the quality of local, voluntary leadership may help explain why some civic organizations have greater political presence in American public life (Han et al., ). Particularly in the evangelical tradition, lay opinion leaders may help normally inward‐focused religious networks to turn outward for political action.…”