March 29, 2024

Questions for the advocacy community: Q3 – John Norris

What are the costs/benefits of single issue advocacy? Does the focus on a single issue crowd out the potential to focus on structural changes that would be required to deal with both the single issue and other related issues?

John Norris:

Much has been made over the influence of single issue advocacy and its supposed tendency to produce distortions in the political process – and not only with regard to genocide and war crimes. We hear similar complaints on every issue from health care to gun control and well beyond. I think the concern is largely misplaced. This is how democracies work. The public is allowed to weigh in on issues as it sees fit, and just because a given activist cares about Sudan, Congo, Tibet or Burma, does not mean that they need to follow every single country torn by conflict around the globe.

Some people will naturally concern themselves with the more architectural issues of conflict prevention, and that is great and welcome. However, it is not surprising that fewer activists track the broader issues of crisis prevention – the budget for development aid, staffing at the National Security Council, the ins and outs of the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations – these are always important, but not always spellbinding. When people see horrible suffering being inflicted on innocent civilians they have every right to demand our governments act: that is not single issue advocacy as much as it is just common sense and decency.

John Norris is the Executive Director of the ENOUGH Project

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  1. […] John Norris challenges the critics of single-issue advocacy, arguing that it is simply commonsensical that people are drawn to a single issue, and that not everyone who works on a single issue has to be involved in the structural factors underlying that issue. This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL. « Questions for the advocacy community: Q3 – Alex de Waal Abu Garda vs. Omar Al Bashir » […]

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