Alliance Building Research Articles

Shifting Coalitions within the Youth Climate Movement in the US

How has the youth climate movement in the US grown since the Climate Strikes began and in what ways did it change as it grew? This article takes advantage of a unique dataset that includes surveys from activists who organized the nationally coordinated climate strikes in the US that began with Fridays for Future in spring 2019. Building on the research on alliance building and strategic coalitions, this article analyzes how the patterns of participation changed over the period of the study. We employ social network analysis to map the affiliation networks among the organizers of these events to assess the coalitions of groups involved and the shifting organizational landscape. Our analysis does not provide evidence that groups spanned the boundaries across movements, nor does it show that identity plays a role in coalition building in this movement. Instead, by mapping out the coalition of organizations within this movement and how connections among them change over time, we see clear evidence that this youth-led movement was reoriented by adult-led organizations. Our article concludes by considering how these findings suggest the future trajectory of the youth climate movement and its role in a ‘new climate politics’ in America.

Development of a support for Black Lives Matter measure among racially-ethnically diverse college students.

This paper developed and validated a new measure of support for the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement among a racially-ethnically diverse sample of college students. The measure focuses on the movement's principles of Black liberation, intersectionality, and alliance building. Participants included 1934 college students (75% female) from a large public Southwestern university. The factor structure was supported by exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, resulting in an 18-item measure, Support for Black Lives Matter, with two underlying factors. Black Liberation includes 12 items representing support for BLM because of awareness of and challenging structural inequality and racism experienced by Black individuals. Intersectional Values includes six items representing support for BLM because it embraces and affirms marginalized populations within the Black community, especially disabled Blacks, queer Blacks, Black women, and Black families with children. Evidence of criterion-related validity was demonstrated with racial group differences in support of BLM factors. Evidence of convergent validity was supported by significant positive correlations between support for BLM factors and critical consciousness (including awareness of racism, classism, and heterosexism), and negative correlations between support for BLM factors and subtle racist attitudes toward Blacks. Measurement invariance was evident between White, Black, Asian American, Latinx, and Multiracial participants. Implications and suggestions for use of the new measure are discussed.

Dealing with surprise attacks: decomposing ERM as a dynamic capability to handle crises

PurposeTurbulent hypercompetitive market conditions make small and medium enterprises (SMEs) vulnerable to abrupt crises caused by unexpected competitor moves. In these situations, enterprise risk management (ERM) can serve as a dynamic capability (DC) to overcome the impending crisis and improve SMEs' survival rates. To explore this capacity, which has only been vaguely addressed in prior research, we conduct an exploratory, abductive study to update the extant (ERM and DC) literature with empirical evidence from expert interviews.Design/methodology/approachWe conduct an exploratory, abductive study using empirical evidence from expert interviews.FindingsOur findings reveal ERM as a second-order DC in the micro-foundational components of competitive intelligence gathering, alliance building and integrative capabilities. We find that competitive intensity and government policy moderate the effects of these foundational capabilities. Finally, our study proposes a survivability model that provides new valuable knowledge of ERM as a DC for SMEs to deal with competition-driven crises.Originality/valueThis research survivability model shows how ERM as DC can facilitate the survivability of SMEs against competitive surprises. Although restricted to crises arising out of competitive surprises, this study provides valuable knowledge to the literature on what type of DCs are useful for specific situations. The study findings not only extended Teece's (2007) DCs framework to competitive crises but also placed it within a hierarchy of capabilities. The research findings indicate that an ERM culture in SMEs promote the growth and development of sensing, seizing and reconfiguring capabilities, vital for tiding competitive crises.

The Negotiation of a Feminist Sisterhood in the Pacific – Two Recent Cases of Intersectional Alliance Building

AbstractAn in‐depth analysis of two case studies – the Pacific Feminist Forum and the We Rise Coalition reveals the importance of alliance building in creating a form of ‘negotiated sisterhood’. Actors and activities in the gender equality civil society space play a role to push governments to make a diversity‐inclusive Pacific gender equality agenda. Working together as a regional alliance increases the impact of advocacy for including feminist voices in dialogues with regional institutions. A key lesson is that cross movement groups such as the women’s movement and gay and lesbian movements have different causes but can identify shared goals and engage in joint planning without excluding differences. This paper sheds new light on negotiating intersectional Pacific feminisms across difference, contributing ideas to mobilise more advocates for gender equality and inclusion in the Pacific.

Cultivating the Therapeutic Alliance in a Telemental Health Setting

Telemental health services have broadened during the last decade (Choi et al. 2019; Pierce et al. 2020). More recently, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) restrictions have led to an escalation in clinical services through telemental health settings. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to consider perspectives of Marriage and Family Therapists (MFT)s who are working in telemental health settings prior to and/or as a result of COVID-19 restrictions and consider the role that telemental health has in building therapeutic connections with clients. Researchers presented an online survey that explored participants’ perceptions of providing telemental health. Participants included 23 MFTs who were currently licensed or working under an MFT supervisor. Data analysis uncovered the following thematic responses: (a) doing telemental health is similar, but different, than in-person therapy, (b) adapting to telemental health is worthwhile, and (c) validating clients’ voices and experiences is fundamental to building an alliance in telemental health therapy. Findings supported the importance of further training in telemental health, specifically related to cultural humility and alliance building within telemental health settings.

Practicing Intersectionality: Brazilian Domestic Workers’ Strategies of Building Alliances and Mobilizing Identity

Domestic workers, as essentially black women in highly precarious conditions, lacking social protection, and often not recognized as proper workers, are considered particularly hard, or even impossible, to organize compared to the “standard” male industrial worker. Yet they have been mobilizing for decades in several countries, including Brazil, where they won new labor rights in 2015. Through an ethnographic study of domestic workers’ unions in Brazil, I argue that what has made their mobilization possible is precisely the intersectional dimension of their oppression. While gender, race, and class have produced multiple forms of exclusion, these vectors of oppression have also enabled domestic workers to build alliances with women’s, black, and workers’ movements, thus giving domestic workers more visibility and more resources to organize their members. I have identified three forms of alliance building, each determined by domestic workers’ unions’ particular framing of gender, race, and class issues: rigid autonomy, critical alliance, and encompassing unionism.

Practitioners’ Use of Motivational Interviewing in Sport: A Qualitative Enquiry

This study explored the use of motivational interviewing (MI) in sport contexts by experts in that approach. Specifically, the purpose was to understand which aspects of the MI approach are deemed valuable for working in sport and to begin to understand how these aspects are best applied. Nine practitioners participated in semistructured interviews, and thematic analysis identified themes related to core and subcomponents of MI (e.g., relational spirit, technical microskills, applied tools, and the MI communication styles continuum). Additional themes relate to integrating MI with other interventions, the challenges of working with athletes (e.g., mandated attendance, ambivalence about change), and unique aspects of working in sport contexts (e.g., frequency, duration, and location of contact points). The participants also outlined essential ingredients for an MI training curriculum for practitioners in sport. This counseling approach appears to have valuable relational and technical components to facilitate the building of the therapeutic alliance, enhance athlete readiness for change, and support delivery of action-oriented interventions in applied sport psychology.

Identity Management and Role Branding in Security Affairs: Alliance Building in Argentine Foreign Policy

Abstract This paper argues that states needing to engage in short-term strategic manipulation of their identity will often turn to branding strategies. Branding allows leaders the flexibility to adopt new roles or reimagine existing roles to fit with the current security environment. Drawing on insights from role theory, social identity, and branding, we develop a theoretical framework to understand how leaders innovate in roles. We apply this framework to two episodes of Argentine–US relations. The first case focuses on the Argentine role of active independent (1933–1945) despite US efforts to ascribe the faithful ally role. Only near the conclusion of the war did Perón transition to an ally partner role for strategic reasons and without much of a branding strategy. The second case is that of Argentina's adoption of the faithful ally role with the United States accompanied by a strong branding strategy under President Menem beginning in 1989. While innovation in the first case was possible without branding (though short-lived), the second case shows a more substantive transformation in Argentina's role set. Branding helps to carve out space in the role set for new roles that may compete with existing ones and ensure their successful adoption and enactment.

The interplay between power structure and decision-making in supply chains: A systematic review

This study provides a systematic review of the literature and a conceptual framework of the interplay between power structure and supply chain decision-making. This systematic review studies 281 research papers published in peer-reviewed journals between the year 1994-2020 and uses content analysis and network visualization of major themes and keywords. Thematic analysis was conducted to examine growing discussion in the literature and to identify research gaps. The findings of this review highlight the component of power structure across business-to-business (B2B) relationships, including its impact on companies’ decision-making. Past literature indicates that power, originating from various sources, could be deliberately exploited and exercised by a company to influence the process and outcome of supply chain decisions. The findings demonstrate the mechanics of power and the prevalent domains of decision that are discussed in the organizational power literature: pricing, quality management, sustainability, alliance building, sourcing, investment, inventory, product development and power shifting efforts. The main contribution of this paper is that it provides a critical synthesis of the role of power structure in supply chain decision-making, identifying 7 novel themes and related future research avenues. For managers and decision-makers, this study helps to raise situational awareness to comprehend power structures among supply chain collaborators. This awareness may help managers to identify threats to and opportunities for future supply chain decisions.

Revisiting the United States Telecommunications Network Policy in a Post-Huawei World: Improving Economic Competitiveness, Addressing Security Weakness, and Building Alliances

The evolution of the network gear manufacturing market into a small number of global providers has made network service providers (NSP’s) and countries increasingly reliant on a small number of supplier firms – a process exacerbated by the need to exclude recognized national security threats. The original intent of the O-RAN Alliance to increase interoperability, reduce excessive reliance on monopolistic providers and create a common pool of IP around interoperable standards is reasonable. In the first instance, the intent of the legislation focused on stimulating economic efficiency and addressing valid national security threats. The wording of that legislation, however, provides no explicit guidance, requirements, or standards linking national security threats to telecoms gear. Between a combination of conflicting incentives, lack of factual understanding on the issues, and poor oversight of legislative intent, the US promotion of open radio network interoperability as currently organized stands only to provide China the dominant position in standard setting and network manufacturing. Policy measures individually and in combination need to decouple the United States telecommunications network market from China; provide explicit legislative guidance and exclusions at the intersection of national security and telecommunications; build data and verification capacity on US supply chains that feed into telecommunications networks; and collaborate with allies to increase technology security and providing assurances to firms about the direction and reliability of US policy. These are individual measures that have received broad bipartisan support across the legislative and executive branches, over recent years.

NATO's Approach to China: From the Perspective of Collective Defense and Political Alliance Building

NATO's Approach to China: From the Perspective of Collective Defense and Political Alliance Building

Power, control, communities and health inequalities III: participatory spaces-an English case.

SummaryThis article—third in a series of three—uses theoretical frameworks described in Part 1, and empirical markers reported in Part 2, to present evidence on how power dynamics shifted during the early years of a major English community empowerment initiative. We demonstrate how the capabilities disadvantaged communities require to exercise collective control over decisions/actions impacting on their lives and health (conceptualized as emancipatory power) and the exercise of power over these communities (conceptualized as limiting power) were shaped by the characteristics of participatory spaces created by and/or associated with this initiative. Two main types of participatory spaces were identified: governance and sense-making. Though all forms of emancipatory power emerged in all spaces, some were more evident in particular spaces. In governance spaces, the development and enactment of ‘power to’ emerged as residents made formal decisions on action, allocated resources and managed accountability. Capabilities for alliance building—power with—were more likely to emerge in these spaces, as was residents’ resistance to the exercise of institutional power over them. In contrast, in sense-making spaces residents met informally and ‘made sense’ of local issues and their ability to influence these. These processes led to the development of power within capabilities and power to resist stigmatizing forms of productive power. The findings highlight the importance of designing community initiatives that: nurture diverse participatory spaces; attend to connectivity between spaces; and identify and act on existing power dynamics undermining capabilities for collective control in disadvantaged communities.

Mediated friendship: Online and offline alliances in girls’ everyday lives in Italy

This article engages with the current debate on feminisms and digital media by looking at the tension between individualism and collective action. Drawing on an empirical research project involving girls, carried out in Italy and focusing on female processes of subjectivation in a postfeminist new media context, it will discuss constraints and opportunities shaped by the everyday use of social media. The article places itself in the latest trend of cyberfeminist studies, by analysing friendship relationships developed among girls in and through digital media. It also looks at how the mediated nature of social network sites offers room for the building of alliances among girls, and how this challenges online and offline gender norms. In doing so, the article reflects on the way female relationships change and are reworked in digital culture, thus giving a new meaning to the feminist concept of sisterhood.

Regional Integration and Ceramic Consumption in the Border Region of Bolivia and Argentina (ca. AD 1000–1450)

This article investigates the mechanisms by which different communities were articulated during the Late Intermediate period (ca. AD 1000–1450) in the Río Grande de San Juan Basin, also called the Chicha Region, located in the border region of Bolivia and Argentina. Through analyses of systems of pottery production, circulation, and consumption, we examine interaction networks, social integration, and alliance building at a regional level. Yavi-Chicha pottery from two sites in the Chicha Region—Chipihuayco, in the Talina Valley (Bolivia), and Finispatria, in San Juan Mayo (Argentina)—provide key insights into regional integration and constellations of practice through their localized technological style and shared consumption strategies. This study reveals that people of Finispatria incorporated the entire Yavi-Chicha-style household assemblage—partly produced in Chipihuayco, partly in Finispatria, or partly at some unknown location—into their everyday lives. We argue that the entire household ceramic repertoire of the study region played a fundamental and socially integrative role as it circulated across the region.

The Mindfulness-Based Phase-Oriented Trauma Therapy (MB-POTT): Hypnosis-informed mindfulness approach to trauma

ABSTRACT Hypnosis has long been successfully used in the treatment of trauma and related disorders. In this paper, I describe a hypnosis-informed approach to PTSD using mindfulness. The Mindfulness-Based Phase-Oriented Traumatic Therapy (MB-POTT) follows the phase-oriented tradition that was originally proposed by Pierre Janet, later expanded by Daniel Brown and Erika Fromm using clinical hypnosis. MB-POTT comprises four distinct, yet recursive, stages: (1) therapeutic alliance building and symptom stabilization, (2) formation of a narrative about the trauma, (3) re-creation of meaning of life after trauma, and (4) future symptom management. In explaining these categories, I delineate the nature of mindfulness, both similarities and dissimilarities to hypnosis, with an emphasis on techniques that resemble hypnotic approaches (e.g., ego state therapy, ego-strengthening). Finally, I provide a case study in which MB-POTT was implemented with a client who suffered from PTSD after a near-fatal industrial accident.

Alliance building in music therapy for forensic psychiatric patients with schizophrenia. An exploratory case study research design

ABSTRACT Introduction: Forming therapeutic alliance with forensic psychiatric patients with schizophrenia is challenging, and there is a gap in knowledge about the dynamics in the initial phase of psychotherapy and how collaboration and trust is developed. Music therapy is described as a motivating approach enhancing the forensic psychiatric patient's ability to engage in a relationship. The purpose of the study was to explore and identify dynamics in the process of forming therapeutic alliance in music therapy for forensic psychiatric patients with schizophrenia. Method: The study adopted an exploratory case study design with data from multiple perspectives providing thick descriptions. Four patients with schizophrenia from a medium secured unit at a forensic psychiatric hospital were offered weekly music therapy sessions for six months. An inductive process based on a hermeneutic phenomenological epistemology and a nine step procedure for the analysis led to a final abductive synthesis. Results: Each of the following themes formed a continuum of dynamic interactional processes within the development of therapeutic alliance with forensic psychiatric patients with schizophrenia in music therapy and were presented as a condensed continua model; (a) Control, (b) Closeness/distance, (c) Structure, (d) Process/product, (e) Focus of attention, (f) Interaction, and (g) Verbal dialogue. A case example is provided. Discussion: The continua model may contribute to the clarification and conceptualization of the developmental dynamics in the initial phase of psychotherapy with forensic psychiatric patients with schizophrenia, and hereby contribute to a recognition of the importance of treatment efforts specifically concerned with relational and musical competencies.

Collective Resistance and Organizational Creativity Amongst Europe's Platform Workers: A New Power in the Labour Movement?

This chapter makes the argument that labour agency in the platform economy in Europe has given rise to a plethora of new informal and formal organisations for mutual aid and worker representation. This organisational experimentation is commonly initially based on digital online communities. Their further offline development is rather uneven, however, as it is informed by the type of platform work the workers engage in and the power resources available to them (or simply because the current structure is efficient enough for fulfilling the platform workers’ purposes). Nevertheless, these bottom-up initiatives point to recurrent patterns in labour-capital dynamics. Some new organisations, in terms of scale, structure or development, recall the kinds of worker organisations that appeared at the end of the nineteenth century. Most but not all of these new organisations have oriented themselves towards a logic-of-membership approach. In many instances, this approach might be complementary with the logic-of-influence approach favoured by today’s mainstream trade unions. Building alliances between the ‘new’ and ‘old’ could reinforce the countervailing power of platform workers and their struggle for regulatory change in the platform economy.

Alliance Building among Environmental Nongovernmental Organizations in China: The Emergence and Evolution of the Zero Waste Alliance

Despite the Chinese state’s long-standing wariness of strong horizontal linkages among nongovernment organizations (NGOs) and a deteriorating political climate for civil society activism, cross-regional alliances among NGOs have become a persistent phenomenon in recent years. This article draws on the case of the Zero Waste Alliance—a nationwide coalition of environmental NGOs engaged in waste-related matters—to identify structural conditions that encouraged its emergence and illuminate how alliance builders have interpreted their environment. The article argues that developments internal to the environmental NGO sector (an increased need to pool scarce resources and professional knowledge, a stronger inclination to collaborate among a new generation of NGO leaders, and the formation of epistemic communities), combined with conditional state lenience, have propelled activists to embark on a strategy of alliance building. This case illustrates how the perceived boundary of the permissible shifts when structural conditions incentivize entrepreneurial activists to explore new strategies, and these attempts do not provoke repressive responses. It also highlights that the state has remained conditionally tolerant of boundary-pushing NGO behavior in a sector aligning with its interests, while strengthening political control over civil society.

What makes advocacy work? Stakeholders\u2019 voices and insights from prioritisation of maternal and child health programme in Nigeria

BackgroundThe Nigerian government introduced and implemented a health programme to improve maternal and child health (MCH) called Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment programme for MCH (SURE-P/MCH). It ran from 2012 and ended abruptly in 2015 and was followed by increased advocacy for sustaining the MCH (antenatal, delivery, postnatal and immunization) services as a policy priority. Advocacy is important in allowing social voice, facilitating prioritization, and bringing different forces/actors together. Therefore, the study set out to understand how advocacy works - through understanding what effective advocacy implementation processes comprise and what mechanisms are triggered by which contexts to produce the intended outcomes.MethodsThe study used a Realist Evaluation design through a mixed quantitative and qualitative methods case study approach. The programme theory (PT) was developed from three substantive social theories (power politics, media influence communication theory, and the three-streams theory of agenda-setting), data and programme design documentation, and subsequently tested. We report information from 22 key informant interviews including national and State policy and law makers, policy implementers, CSOs, Development partners, NGOs, health professional groups, and media practitioners and review of relevant documents on advocacy events post-SURE-P.ResultsKey advocacy organizations and individuals including health professional groups, the media, civil society organizations, powerful individuals, and policymakers were involved in advocacy activities. The nature of their engagement included organizing workshops, symposiums, town hall meetings, individual meetings, press conferences, demonstrations, and engagements with media. Effective advocacy mechanism involved alliance brokering to increase influence, the media supporting and engaging in advocacy, and the use of champions, influencers, and spouses (Leadership and Elite Gendered Power Dynamics). The key contextual influences which determined the effectiveness of advocacy measures for MCH included the political cycle, availability of evidence on the issue, networking with powerful and interested champions, and alliance building in advocacy. All these enhanced the entrenchment of MCH on the political and financial agenda at the State and Federal levels.ConclusionsOur result suggest that advocacy can be a useful tool to bring together different forces by allowing expression of voices and ensuring accountability of different actors including policymakers. In the context of poor health outcomes, interest from policymakers and politicians in MCH, combined with advocacy from key policy actors armed with evidence, can improve prioritization and sustained implementation of MCH services.

(Cultural) Humility in Practice: Engaging First-Generation College Students

ABSTRACT Among the 20 million students nationwide enrolled in colleges in the fall of 2019, one-third were first-generation college students (FGCS). The college years spark life transitions for all students, but for FGCS, there are additional challenges and barriers in mental health-seeking and treatment. Hence, the treatment attrition rate is high once FGCS access services at college counseling centers (CCC). Research suggests that the cultural humility framework and the Cultural Formulation Interview (CFI) may be effective interventions for getting FGCS to access and engage mental health services. The cultural humility framework emphasizes self-reflection and alliance building. And the CFI explores specific cultural norms, causes of mental health complaints, and barriers to treatment. This composite case study aims to illustrate the benefits and effectiveness of integrating the cultural humility framework and the CFI throughout treatment of an FGCS. Providing such services reveals that FGCS engagement and retention rates at CCC will improve.