Advocacy organisations in Australian politics: Governance and democratic effects

Abstract

Advocacy organisations can contrihute to democracy in two ways. Through their internal processes they can train their members in democratic decision making and educate them about relevant political issues. They can also have an external effect, by representing various interests and influencing politics and policy-making. Little has been written ahout the relationship between these external and internal democratic effects: that is, on how policies advocated are shaped by members or constituents of advocacy organisations. However; this is an important dynamic, as the different ways a leadership engages its membership or supporters can give weight to advocacy in terms of its legitimacy as the voice of those its claims to represent, and can impact on the degree to which members are inculcated with democratic skills and values. To examine the nexus of internal and external effects through governance the paper presents an analysis of twelve Australian advocacy organisations highlighting the diverse ways that groups identify and articulate the perspectives of their constituency. It concludes that while some advocacy organisations fail to meet criteria of internal democracy the diversity of governance arrangements, taken as a whole, has other positive effects for the political system and society.