The New Infrastructure of Cross-National Activism

• In Event: Comparing Contexts: Diverse Methodological Approaches in Comparative Research

Abstract

This paper offers a cross-national analysis of the advocacy organizations that make up the international Online Progressive Engagement Network (OPEN). It is based on early-stage research from a larger book project.
The OPEN network represents a unique opportunity to study organized online political mobilization in cross-national perspective. It includes a set of “sister organizations” based in the US (MoveOn), Germany (Campact), Australia (GetUp), the UK (38 Degrees), and Canada (Leadnow), along with startups in roughly a dozen other countries. All of these organizations have attained substantial size and political influence within their home countries. All of them have developed online memberships that exceed 1% of the national population. All rely on similar (sometimes identical) technological platforms. This is a clear international diffusion process, with well-documented emulation, feedback, and learning.
The paper begins by defining and tracing the development of the MoveOn/OPEN model. Based on primary source document analysis and interviews with senior staff, I will describe the features of these groups that render them distinct from the more fluid forms of “connective” digital activism.
The paper will then provide a comparative case analysis of the “launch” phase of all organizations in the OPEN network. What campaign topics drove the initial surges of media attention, fundraising, and membership growth? How did the organizations interact with existing governmental and civil society institutions? How, if at all, do differences in electoral system produce variations in the OPEN model? The paper concludes with an assessment of the role that each of these organizations has played in their recent national elections.

Author

• David Karpf, George Washington U