Being powerful: The basics of campaigning

Being powerful: the basics of campaigning

Campaigning is the profession of the activist.

Learning to campaign is a process of learning to wield power. So activism is in many ways the act of being powerful… and then using that power for good. Because activism is inherently something that many people do together, campaigning is the use of collective power to achieve a collective outcome. Activism is an act of leadership that focuses and directs collective power. Put one more way: activism empowers others.

Of course, activism is also about many things other than power:

• You must have a clear vision of the change you want to create in the world;
• You must have an understanding of the shared values that will motivate groups of people to stand by your side and lend their voice to yours;
• You must have a healthy ego, because those with a disempowered mindset do not believe they can - or have the right to - make change;
• You must have an ethical basis for what you do, because without ethics you aren’t pursuing a campaign, you are pursuing a personal interest.

Why power? Because power is the process through which all these things - which until this point are merely ideas inside your own head - collide with the world and become outcomes.

Types of power

Motivation is power. Many people may agree with you, but until they are motivated to act there is no power there. Much of campaigning is nothing more and nothing less than the ability to motivate people. Values theory gives us an understanding of what motivates people - as does personality typing, cultural dimensions, learning styles, lifestyles, demographics and many other techniques for understanding what makes people tick. Communications and marketing, traditional and social media, framing, music, art, and storytelling are all methods of delivering motivation.

Influence is power. Much of campaign strategy involves working out how to influence people - from the general public, to the most power ‘decision-makers’. People who are held in respect, seen as experts, are powerful, have strong relationships with the right people, or many followers are influencers. Campaigns are a process of mapping out influencers and who they can influence. Two fundamental tools for working out how to win a campaign are power mapping and critical path analysis - which, in simple terms, are tools for mapping influence and how to activate it.

Money, politics and physical force are forms of power. Although many campaigners must spend money, engage in politics and use physical force (not all campaigners are ‘good guys’). As a campaigner you may have to conduct fundraising, do political lobbying, or run election campaigns. Progressive campaigners and activists do not always wield these forms of power as their primary means - but their opponents normally do. Activism is about wielding power, but also about confronting power.

An asymmetry of power

A fundamental assumption of activism is that the activist is less powerful than the target of their campaign. If the activst was more powerful, by definition they could create the outcome they wanted without the need for a campaign.

Climate change activists face a multi-trillion dollar fossil fuel industry. Peace protesters face governments and military forces. Political protesters may face police and security apparatus. Clean water activists may find themselves the target of a SLAPP lawsuit they don’t have the money or legal knowledge to fight. In these cases there is an asymmetry of power - the target of the campaign is far more powerful than the activist. The asymmetry may take the form of financial, legal, political or physical power.

In almost every campaign, the primary issue the activist must deal with is this asymmetry of power between themselves and the target of their campaign. Campaigning is the process of reducing the power gap.

If the activist faces a financial asymmetry - their opponent has vastly more money than them - then the last thing an activist should do is to try to outspend them. Instead, they may wield a different form of power - public opinion, through a consumer campaign.

If an activist attempted to outspend a wealthy company, then they are in a war of attrition they cannot win. Using political power against a government or physical force against a military or law enforcement are equally unlikely to succeed. In fact, the activist must - almost always - wield a fundamentally different form of power to the one that defines their target. Therefore a campaign takes place when there is a competition between two fundamentally different forms of power, and in which the power wielded by the activist must eventually become greater.

In its most basic form, a Theory of Change for a campaign must determine:

1. what form of power does the opponent have in vastly greater quantity than the activist? (In what area is the target strong and the activist weak?)
2. what is an alternative source of power that is available to the activist but not to the target (In what area is the activst strong and the target weak?)
3. how can the activists’ source of power be developed and grown until it is greater than the source of power held by the campaign’s target or opponent? (this is the process of campaign strategy).

In summary:

• In almost all campaigns, there is an asymmetry of power between the activist and their target.
• The campaign consists of finding an alternative source of power and making it out-compete the target’s power.

So how should an activst go about identifying, mapping and developing sources of power?

Power tools

Tools for mapping and understanding power:

1. power mapping
2. critical path analysis
3. strength and weakness analysis
4. framing
5. market segmentation, targeted marketing and values-based messaging.

Power techniques

Methods for building power:

1. building and managing a supporter base;
2. fundraising;
3. creating and running an organisation;
4. coordination - running meetings, decision-making, facilitation, management and leadership.

Methods for wielding power:

1. Social media (and advertising)
2. Traditional media (and advertising)
3. market and consumer campaigns
4. corportate campaigns
5. political and election campaigns
6. networking
7. petitions and cyberactions.

Strategy and planning

The basics of campaigning versus advanced campaigning

Basic campaigning techniques consists largely of using tools for managing power.

Advanced campaigning techniques is about managing people’s minds. It includes things like:

1. Strategic thinking;
2. turbulence;
3. OODA loops;
4. Sun Zi’s the Art of War.