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3 - Organizing for Power

from Part I - Civic Power through Organizing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2019

K.Sabeel Rahman
Affiliation:
Brooklyn Law School
Hollie Russon Gilman
Affiliation:
Columbia University, New York
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Summary

As Chapter 2 suggests, disparities in organized advocacy and interest representation are central drivers of the more chronic crisis of American democracy this book investigates. Civic power rests on the ability of constituencies to organize into durable, and effective, mass-member organizations capable of exercising political power. The shift in the balance of power within the organizational landscape, particularly the decline of labor and the rise (and increased aggressiveness) of the organized business lobby, has been a key factor in policy changes that have contributed to increased inequality and further disparities in political voice. This dimension of organizational power and organizational capacity also helps clarify the origins and forces behind the rise of white nationalist, alt-right, and exclusionary populist movements on the right. While racial resentment has long been a motivating ideological force in American politics, it is the fusion of these motivations with financial resources, media infrastructure, and the formation of more organized movement building that makes it particularly powerful.

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Chapter
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Civic Power
Rebuilding American Democracy in an Era of Crisis
, pp. 81 - 110
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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