Show me how to live: transactional advocacy organizations, managerial populism, and the EU

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper analyses the perceived influence of managerial populism on transactional advocacy organizations (TAOs) in the Czech Republic and the transformation of their strategies outside the national political process. It aims at two goals: First, in contrast to the prevailing narratives of populism as universally worsening the conditions for civil society actors, we demonstrate that there is not a uniform impact from populist governance on advocacy organizations and that we need to differentiate between TAOs and other advocacy organizations. Second, the paper analyses the transformation of TAO strategies after the rise of populist governance with a focus on the transnational dimension of their goals, alliances, and resources. We show whether and to what extent TAOs compensate for change in their environment through reconnecting to European political processes. The paper builds on organizational surveys of Czech advocacy organizations, most notably the Czech Comparative Interest Group survey carried out in 2019–2020.