·
Analyzing strategies of NGOs that found it
necessary and desirable to work with the political class post-2001
o
Two issues: children’s rights and greater
transparency in government institutions (664)
o
Non-profit, public interest NGOs and community
organizations
·
Argument: by devising effective framing
strategies, civil society actors increase their chances of participating in the
agenda-setting, formulation, and adoption phases of policy-making
o
Using motivational framing
o
But frames must also incorporate positive of
constructive measures
o
In a place where CSOs aren’t normally consulted
by the government, activists do not merely respond to existing political
opportunities but endeavor to CREATE opportunities for participation (665)
·
It is clear that activists mobilize ideas as
well as resources (667)
o
The strategic use of ideas can make up for lack
of resources
·
The power of ideas
o
Diagnostic framing: problematizes issue (668)
o
Prognostic framing: suggests solutions
o
Motivational framing: provides rationale for
collective action
§
For the last, the motivation must work for both
the public AND elites
§
But all three are necessary
o
Policy-friendly frames have THREE MORE
characteristics:
§
Contain a positive/constructive message (669)
§
Downplay blame
§
Propose feasible solutions
·
This is only influence over het policy-making
process, not over outcomes (671)
·
Two cases:
o
FOI legislation, which CSOs were influential in
creating through 2003, but had stalled by 2006 despite continued clamoring by
CSOs (672)
o
Child welfare legislation, in which CSOs had
only gotten middling levels of policy influence through 2004, but the law went
through in 2005 (policy influence ramped up in 2004-2005)
o
Argument: differing levels of involvement was
partly the result of different framing
·
FOI
o
Lots of CSOs that had been working on this since
the 1990s
o
Did conferences to garner public support and
attempted to gain elite support (675)
o
Instead of echoing “que se vayan todos”, they
tried to give political elites a chance to do FOI to improve their own image
(676)
§
Reforms specifically did not revolve around
culpability
o
The legislation as a whole conveyed a sense of
hope and institutional building/improving even as much of the rest of the
country was angry and disgusted at politics
o
ME: So it seems like these guys did a pretty
good job of framing the issue in a way to get everyone on board
·
Advocating for Children
o
CSOs had strong credentials as watchdogs for
justice (680)
o
Very successful educating the public on
children’s issues (681)
§
Great at motivational framing, but these
advocates did not have great diagnostic or prognostic framing (682)
§
Constantly talked about how bad everything was
(683)
§
Linked neoliberalism to child poverty
§
Entire system painted as “bad”, bleak (684)
·
Frame of criminalization of poverty emphasized
system’s failure
o
Frame suggested only a fundamental change in
social and economic model would fix the problem (685)
o
Frame antagonized executive branch and the
family courts
§
The extent to which the frame threatens elites
has an effect on whether it is implement…child legislation should seem obvious,
but frames did not allow elites options for workable solutions (686)
o
BUT all of this changed in 2004-5, when
activists latched on to a “modernization” frame, whereby child-poverty
legislation was seen as part of modernizing project
·
What changed? Why do we get child legislation
and not FOI?
o
Everyone else in the region (not Chile or Mex)
had adopted childrens’ rights legislation, Argentina wanted to catch up (687)
§
Took out reproductive rights, which make the
legislation more palatable
o
Kirchner did FOI decree for executive branch
agencies in 2003, which took off some of the pressure (687)
§
FOI is example that doing everything right does
not = policy success (688)
§
But a few years later the momentum picked up
again, FOI passed lower house in 2010, stalled in upper house in 2011 (unsure
of result due to publishing)
·
Conclusion:
o
Key aspect of CSO advocacy is circulation of
people between CSOs and state (689)
No comments:
Post a Comment