Browsing by Author "Carter, David"
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Item An evaluation of environmental interest groups and their effort to influence environmental policy in Delaware(University of Delaware, 2011) Carter, DavidEnvironmental interest groups are critical to the conservation and protection of environmental resources. They play an essential role in the public policy process by bringing attention to environmental issues, building support for change, and lobbying for new laws. These organizations have been studied extensively at the national scale, but our understanding of them at the state level is incomplete. This thesis is the first comprehensive description of the environmental interest groups active in Delaware. The research provides an inventory and characterization of Delaware's environmental interest group community. Seventy-two environmental organizations comprised of local, statewide, regional, and national groups with activity in Delaware were identified and surveyed. Analysis shows this community is comprised of a diverse group of formal and informal organizations with varying missions, funding, and staffing resources. The existing core of Delaware organizations has shown considerable resiliency, with an average age of 22 years. The network of environmental interest organizations does have a substantial base of resources, including funding, staffing, and volunteers. Collectively they utilize an estimated $8-10 Million in annual operating funds, 115 paid professional staff, and volunteer services from a reported 2,380 to 4,485 volunteers with an estimated value of $4.3 to $8.5 million for work in Delaware. Delaware's environmental organizations have broad issue agendas with significant implications for collective action. They use a limited range of traditional tactics to influence policy. When attempting to influence environmental policy, the groups work in a challenging social and political context of insider politics where environmental interest groups are usually outsiders. In Delaware, there may be negative consequences for environmental advocacy, with 45% of the organizations reporting they had experienced or suspected retribution for advocacy efforts. This study demonstrates that environmental interest groups are well-established in Delaware, have diverse interests and capacity, and have interest in public policy advocacy. While they likely have some impact on environmental resources through a wide range of programs, they have limited resource capacity to influence environmental policy. Despite this finding, they have a solid base of bench strength upon which to build and opportunities to be more effective in the future.Item Examining Intersections between Open Government and Nonprofit Advocacy: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives about an Emerging Relationship(The International Research Society for Public Management, 2014-04-09) McNutt, John; Justice, Jonathan; Carter, DavidThe creation of open and transparent government has long been a goal of reformers, students of democratic institutions and progressives of all stripes. The argument is that a transparent government is more stable, better functioning and enjoys a higher level of support (Justice, McNutt. & Smith, 2011). The International movement toward open government is a major force in public management (Lathrop & Ruma, 2010). While many in the nonprofit sector would support open government (and have actively advocated for it), the function that is most affected is nonprofit advocacy. Advocates can directly benefit from open government. Information is the lifeblood of nonprofit advocacy and much of the information that advocates require is the target of open government programs (see Berry & Arons, 2002; Libby, 2011; Bass, Arons, Guinane & Carter, 2007). This paper will explore the relationship between nonprofit advocacy and policy making and the movement toward open government. We will develop a theoretical model that describes the relationship between the sector in general and nonprofit advocacy in specific, on the one hand, and open government efforts on the other. We will illustrate the model with empirical findings from a recent study of the use of transparency data by advocates in a single state. In this research we surveyed the population on nonprofits that employed a legislative advocate. The study dealt with the use of information by advocates and the utility of open government/transparency resources for improving the quality of advocacy.