Showing papers by "Darren Halpin published in 2009"

Interpreting Environments: Interest Group Response to Population Ecology Pressures

Abstract: Important articles in this Journal by Nownes in 2004 and Nownes and Lipinksi in 2005 demonstrate that ‘population ecology’ approaches are now central to interest group studies. Partly at least this move to study at population level is a consequence of the numbers of such organizations. Party scholars typically deal with far fewer cases and sui generis discussion is more defensible. Ecology seems to offer a ‘handle’ on the thousands of cases that exist in the interest group field. Nownes and Lipinski stressed the importance of environmental factors in determining group populations, and challenged group scholars to address the dynamics among interest group populations. This article argues that animal-based population ecology may be an imperfect analogy to use in making sense of group circumstances. It considers the way groups respond to opportunities and constraints. Pursuing Nownes and Lipinski’s invitation to look at dynamics in particular settings, this article stresses the ‘shaping’ roles of group leaders through an exploration of the way the dominant Scottish farming group mediated the impact of external changes over the past decade. It concludes that while approaches based on population ecology rightly emphasize system implications of competition for scarce resources in creating group challenges, the manner in which particular organizations adapt and transform is crucial. Mortality is not inevitable. This article thus builds on those elements within the ecological tradition that accept a place for agency. Ideas such as ‘mortality anxiety’, as used by Gray and Lowery, 1 or ‘survival tactics’, discussed by Imig, 2 show that biological models do not make straightforward metaphors for understanding human-engineered structures.

NGOs and Democratisation: Assessing Variation in the Internal Democratic Practices of NGOs

Abstract: In recent times the study of ‘groups’ has become a much more fashionable form of scholarship. This is particularly evident if one broadens the terminology from simply interest groups to encompass civil society organisations (CSOs), social movement organisations (SMOs) or nongovernmental organisations (NGOs). The study of ‘groups’ is again prominent amongst social scientific scholarship.