Governance Structures for Social Movements

* Report: Governance Structures for Social Movements. A Strategy Brief for Harnessing Grassroots Capacity. Cognitive Policy Works [1], November 9, 2012

URL = http://empathysurplus.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/governance-structures-for-social-movements1.pdf

Excerpt

Introduction to Organizational Frames

Joe Brewer:

"Social movements throughout history have achieved lasting success by altering institutional structures and cultural norms to reflect their core values and beliefs. Their achievements can be seen in

(1) the emergence of new social practices like interracial marriage or the honoring of indigenous traditions;

(2) adoption and enforcement of policy frameworks like the Bill of Rights or the Endangered Species Act; and — in some circumstances —

(3) as novel organizational forms that alter the institutional landscape like the new hybrid for-profit/non-profit legal charter for the benefit corporation or the crowdsourced archive of information known as Wikipedia.

In this strategy brief, we will consider the organizational frames that bolster (and restrict) how an organization can be deployed to achieve goals for a social movement. An organizational frame is the structured web of rules, relationships, and values that comprise an idealized cognitive model for understanding and acting within a particular institutional context." (http://empathysurplus.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/governance-structures-for-social-movements1.pdf)