Campaigning Defined

Campaigning is an activity that people have various ways of defining. I will endeavor to analyse two such definitions.

Definition #1

Campaigning is a “series of communicative activities undertaken to achieve predefined goals and objectives regarding a defined target audience in a set time period

(Baringhorst et al 2009:24)

Defintion #2

“Campaigning is an activity that aims to create change. It brings energy and passion to public debates and ensures that a wider range of voices are heard –including the voices of the disadvantaged.”

(NCVO 2014)

The 1st definition denotes the rise of managerialism in campaigning for social change apparent since 1968 and the consumerism of social causes (Hilder, Caulier-Grace, & Lalor, 2007) that now need to be packaged and delivered for both funders’ assurance and participants’ consumption. The 2nd definition echoes the beginnings of campaigning when mostly affected people campaigned for what directly mattered to them or for what they felt most strongly about, which of course is still relevant today.

Baringhorst’s definition sets the boundaries of change and commands control over a time frame and its ‘audience’ by targeting and defining it. Its ‘pre-defined goals’ implies inflexibility. It therefore seems to only cover part of 1 of the 4 “different contexts in which social campaigning has been used since the late eighteenth century – isolated issues, sustained campaigns, wider social movements and social-revolutionary moments” (Hilder, Caulier-Grace, & Lalor, 2007 pg 25).

Glaringly absent from Baringhorst’s definition are sustained campaigns, wider social movements, social-revolutionary moments (Hilder, Caulier-Grace, & Lalor, 2007) and demand-driven strikes and yet they are all collective endeavours for change which is large part of most campaigns’ agenda.

Baringhorst’s definition has an undertone of rigidity which when fighting for social change is counter intuitive as many unforeseen obstacles come in the way of social change endeavours. Social-revolutionary moments do not target an ‘audience’ as they are usually the very people they are fighting for. The ‘time period’ of all these type of campaigns is usually dictated by the realization of the demands they are campaigning for (eg Miners Strike), some alternative compromise, or the heavy boot of the establishment, rather than a date. Being prepared for the unexpected is potentially a more important quality to harness than forseeing (and possibly relying on) incremental goals (checkpoints) and all potential outcomes.

I imagine that dedication to facilitation, nurturing, assistance, and protection with an open mind to unforeseen changes derived from the circumstances of a campaign, is a more positive approach for NGOs to adopt than one of control and set boundaries.

The second definition by National Council For Voluntary Organisations (NVCO)  blasts through the limitations suggested by Baringhorst. It speaks of passion and energy and in doing so includes social movements, activist endeavors, strikes and social revolutionary moments. However it probably does not embody the cooler drive of political campaigns or commercial campaigns. The definition’s very form embodies an openness that is important in social change campaigns yet at the same time it belies a certain lack of strategy and organization which is sadly known to undermine revolutionary moments and social movements .Furthermore campaigning can only ever ‘strive to ensure’  as oppose to actually ‘ensure’ that a wider range of voices are heard because its very nature (in the capacity for social change) cannot guarantee anything.

I conclude that both definitions are lacking and yet together they pretty much cover the whole spectrum of campaigning from:

• – the cool professionalized campaigning that views a participatory public as an  ‘audience’ of consuming customers of single issue campaigns to pick and choose from

all the way to :

• – the affected, passionate (driven on volition and grievance) social change movements and strikes that demand a variety of resolves from simple pay rises, to complex systemic change and parliamentary overthrows.

References

National Council for Voluntary Organizations

Baringhorst, S. Introduction: Political Campaigning in Changing Media Cultures in Baringhorst et al (eds) (2009) Political Campaigning on the Web. Bielefeld: [transcript].

Hilder, P. et al (2007) Contentious citizens – civil society’s role in campaigning for social change (2007) The Young Foundation.

Feature Image : Courtesy of www.thedesidesign.com