Advocacy Organization Affiliations: Alliances and Perceived Common Interests between Socially, Politically, and Informationally Disadvantaged Communities

Abstract

In order to address issues of inequality, advocacy organizations aggregate into coalitions and interest networks which have significant implications for the success of advocacy efforts and impact on the policy making process. Structural and contextual analysis of a link network consisting of advocacy organizations representing the interests of socially, politically, and informationally disadvantaged communities reveals patterns in coalition formation for successful advocacy. Analysis supports advocacy coalition framework-based theories of parallel network structures and advocacy hubs as key nodes for bridge formation across advocacy areas. This preliminary study also explores unanticipated alliances between discrete areas of advocacy and the implications of cross sector alliances. A design for more expansive inquiry is proposed and hypotheses are posited for relationships between information inequality and other asymmetries, which can be tested within advocacy organization networks. Continued analysis of the relationships between advocacy organizations will identify successful coalition structure to inform future advocacy coalition development.