Grassroots Leadership Research Articles

MODELS AND INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS OF THE CAREER OF HEADS OF LOCAL PUBLIC AUTHORITIES AND MANAGEMENT (1965–1985)

The article deals with the issues of personnel policy in relation to the heads of local government bodies – the chairmen of the executive committees of the Soviets of the period of "developed socialism". In the 1960s and 1980s, there were models of career growth worked out in practice, which assumed consistent, starting from grassroots leadership positions, and gradual, without sudden jerks, promotion along the vertical of power and management. Based on the analysis of statistical material and the study of the biographies of specific heads of local state bodies, three main trajectories of their career growth are distinguished: "Soviet-economic", "party-Soviet", "combined". It is noted that the most common was the third option – "combined": the alternation of party, Soviet and economic nomenclature positions. Institutional factors of career growth are highlighted: membership in the CPSU, higher specialized technical or agricultural education, higher party-political education, age and work experience in lower positions (including the beginning of work as workers or collective farmers). The article was prepared as part of the task of the state scientific research program "Society and Humanitarian Security of the Belarusian State", subprogram "History", topic 12.1.3.11 "Local government bodies of the Byelorussian SSR – the Republic of Belarus: organizational, legal, material, financial and personnel foundations of functioning (1944–2020)" for 2021–2025.

Human capital of grassroots leaders and vulnerability to poverty: Evidence from rural China

This study examines the impact of the educational level of grassroots leaders on the vulnerability to poverty among villagers in China, using panel data from the National Fixed-Point Survey (NFS) from 2003 to 2015. Our findings indicate that a higher proportion of village cadres with a high school education or above significantly reduces the vulnerability to poverty among rural households in China. We identify two main mechanisms underlying this effect: (1) highly educated village cadres possess greater capabilities in assisting eligible poor households to understand and access government assistance programs, thereby increasing household transfer incomes; and (2) highly educated village cadres can alleviate household vulnerability to poverty by promoting local infrastructure development in the village. These results offer an alternative perspective on targeted poverty alleviation, suggesting that efforts should be directed toward enhancing the human capital level of local grassroots leaders or appointing highly educated leaders in underdeveloped villages.

Internationalising student learning at the meso level: the impact of grassroots leadership in a university in Central Europe

AbstractThis study investigates the meso level impact of an academic development programme on internationalisation. We demonstrate the relevance of the framework of grassroots leadership in higher education in the Central European context and show how individual programme participants acting as grassroots leaders influence departmental attitudes and practices regarding internationalisation and student-centred learning. We identify two successful strategies—single-issue and multifaceted—for grassroots leadership. The study finds that established faculty member participants who are also active as grassroots leaders facilitate the spreading of the influence of an internationalisation programme beyond the individual level, highlighting the differences and similarities in the activism of faculty grassroots leaders in Central Europe vis-à-vis the USA.

Harlem, Addis, and Johannesburg: African Solidarity and African American Internationalism in Harlem from the 1960s to the 1990s

Abstract This 2021 ASA Presidential Lecture combines sociopolitical history with personal reflections on Black Harlem during African decolonization. It begins at the turn of the twentieth century and traces Harlem’s transformation into an international center of pan-Africanist activism and cultural production. Brown explores solidarities that grew as Harlem politicians, grassroots leaders, and residents encountered political exiles and cultural leaders from the continent, the diaspora, and aligned political movements worldwide. These alliances and modes of protest facilitated a hardening of militant activist traditions and cultural cohesion that shaped an anti-imperialist pan-African movement and ultimately a multinational Black political movement in the 1960’s to 1990s.

Supporting the Development of Grassroots Maternal and Childhood Health Leaders through a Public-Health-Informed Training Program.

The purpose of this research was to assess leadership growth (i.e., changes in personal capacity and social capital) among women living in high-risk infant mortality zip codes who completed a grassroots maternal and childhood health leadership (GMCHL) training program. We used semi-structured qualitative interviews and thematic analysis. Three major themes associated with the training program experience were identified: (1) building personal capacity and becoming community brokers; (2) linking and leveraging through formal organizations; and (3) how individual change becomes community change. Although many of the grassroots leaders were already brokers (i.e., connecting individuals to information/services), they were able to become community brokers by gaining new skills and knowledge about strategies to reduce adverse birth outcomes in their community. In particular, joining and participation in formal organizations aimed at improving community health led to the development of linking or vertical ties (e.g., "people in high places"). The grassroots leaders gained access to people in power, such as policymakers, which enabled leaders to access more resources and opportunities for themselves and their social networks. We outline the building blocks for supporting potential grassroots leaders by enhancing personal capacity and social capital, thus leading to increases in collective efficacy and collective action.

Role of Grassroots Public Health Leadership in Bedouin Society in Israel in Reducing Health Disparities.

Negev Bedouin settlements suffer from poor infrastructure, and the population's health status is low across all indicators. While it is difficult for Bedouin citizens of Israel to integrate into the Israeli employment market, integrating this population into the health system is far-reaching. The aim of this study is to analyze the barriers and motivational factors experienced by Bedouin doctors to promote public health in the Bedouin community in southern Israel and to examine the perceptions these doctors have around the concept of leadership in a public health setting. We conducted semi-structured interviews with Bedouin doctors from the Negev Bedouin community and analyzed them using thematic analysis. Most interviewees saw themselves as leaders whose role was to improve public health in their community. They stressed the need for health leadership in Negev Bedouin society, and their desire to lead change in the community from within. All interviewees had grown used to a different way of life and a higher standard of living, and as a result, had difficulty returning home. Interviewees presented that trust in the health system is a critical factor for the success of health promotion programs. However, they noted the evolving trends of general mistrust in the government and its institutions that form the infrastructure for mistrust in the health system. Lack of time and workload were barriers to exercising leadership. Interviewees reported their perception of how socioeconomic status, the standard of living, and lack of infrastructure, education, and training affect health outcomes and collaboration potential. This study presents a unique perspective on the views of doctors from the Negev Bedouin population on their involvement with grassroots leadership as a strategy to reduce health disparities in this community.

The Responses of Grassroots Leadership to Rural Environmental Protests in China

Focusing on the escalation of environmental protests amid worsening pollution in rural China, this study examines the responses of grassroots authorities to environmental protests. Through an analysis of several cases, it reveals that grassroots leadership suppresses, mediates, and sometimes even leads these movements. Accordingly, I raise the following questions: (1) How does China’s grassroots leadership respond to environmental protests? (2) Why does it choose to lead them? To answer these questions, this study posits local cadres as actors intending to maximize their self-interest within conflicting incentives, reaching the conclusion that under certain conditions, leading a protest can be a better option for their cost-benefit considerations. I argue that the varying behaviors of local cadres are contingent upon two crucial factors: (1) the degree of economic benefits derived from polluting companies; and (2) the degree of social unrest resulting from environmental protests. These factors are pivotal in shaping the economic and political interests of local cadres that influence their responses toward environmental activism.

Gender as Spectacle: Safe Zone Facilitation Experiences of Nonbinary/Trans Educators

This paper explores the experiences of nonbinary and trans (NBT) facilitators of Safe Zone workshops, what we call LGBTQ+ social justice educational interventions (SJEIs). Despite their prevalence in higher education for over 3 decades, there remains a paucity of research about them and those who facilitate them. This research focused on 33 NBT participants, a subpopulation within the larger 87 participants, to explore their preparation for LGBGTQ+ SJEI facilitation and how they use their gender in their facilitation. Using grassroots leadership as our conceptual framework, we raise concerns about what it means for identities to serve as preparation for leadership, and how these leaders give of themselves even to the detriment of themselves.

The Stress Relief Value, Cause Analysis and Adjustment Strategies of Psychological Pressure among Grassroots Leadership Personnel

The Stress Relief Value, Cause Analysis and Adjustment Strategies of Psychological Pressure among Grassroots Leadership Personnel

Gut Feelings

At the height of the pandemic, Vice President Leni Robredo’s supporters served lugaw to the starving people of the Philippines as a symbol of her grassroots leadership—despite detractors who disparaged the lowly porridge. State agents antagonized citizen-led community pantries and food banks, which persisted through the contributions of ordinary Filipinos. Filipinos came together to lead these various embodied practices to provide nourishment and ignite political action.

An Empirical Test of the Influence of Rural Leadership on the Willingness to Participate in Public Affairs from the Perspective of Leadership Identification

The participation of villagers in rural public affairs is vital for the sustainable development of rural communities and the improvement of villagers’ quality of life. Various factors, including individual characteristics, village environment, social forces, and national policies, influence villagers’ willingness to participate. However, empirical research on the determinants of villagers’ participation in public affairs often overlooks the role of grassroots leadership. To address this gap, this study proposes a theoretical model examining the relationship between transformational leadership and villagers’ willingness to participate in public affairs. Using a sample of 438 villagers from Jiangsu Province in eastern China, structural equation modeling and regression are employed to analyze the data. The findings indicate that moral modeling, leadership charm, and personalized care directly impact villagers’ willingness to participate in public affairs or indirectly influence it through leadership identification, which acts as a mediator. Furthermore, shared vision enhances the positive relationship between leadership identification and villagers’ awareness of public affairs participation. These findings provide valuable insights for village cadres seeking to promote active participation in public affairs among villagers. Specifically, gaining recognition through virtuous conduct, capabilities, and strong cadre–villager relationships serves as a foundation for influencing villagers’ willingness to participate in public affairs, while shared vision plays a strategic role in mobilizing villagers based on their identification with leaders.

Grassroots leadership and negotiation style: The quest for justice in the movie Erin Brockovich

The power gaps nested in the political ecology of socioenvironmental conflicts often impose critical impasses on the attainment of justice. Therefore, negotiation is accepted as an alternate tool for environmental justice, especially to avoid the prolonged sufferings linked to uneven power relations between conflicting parties, unpredictable outcomes, mounting expenses and the time taken to get a decision through formal judicial trials or arbitrations. Against this backdrop, the American movie Erin Brockovich is selected to highlight the importance of negotiation as a tool to mitigate environmental conflicts. The movie presents how an ordinary woman, who has many blemishes and liabilities, transcends personal limitations to accomplish appreciable socioenvironmental justice through grassroots mobilization and negotiation. Using close study interpretive methods, the movie Erin Brockovich is analysed as a case study in environmental leadership, distributive negotiation and procedural justice.

On the Operating Mechanism of the Party Government Joint Meeting System in School (Department) of Colleges and Universities

The party government joint meeting is the main carrier of party and government discussions in universities and colleges, and is a major institutional arrangement for implementing the fundamental mission of "educating people for the party and the country" in universities. With the reform and development of the grassroots leadership system and work mechanism in universities, the system of party government joint meetings has also exposed some problems. This article starts from the current situation of the operation of the party government joint meeting system in the governance of institutions (departments), explores how to improve the efficiency and level of party government joint meetings, and proposes policy suggestions on strengthening team building, improving meeting rules, and improving supervision systems.

The Effectiveness of Grassroots Leaders’ Affiliative Humor in Public Administration Management

The Effectiveness of Grassroots Leaders’ Affiliative Humor in Public Administration Management

Community Voices on the Experiences of Community-Based Participatory Research in the Environmental Justice Movement

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is increasingly being used by academics to address urban health and inequity. While its foundational literature emphasizes CBPR’s role in eschewing the traditional balance of power between communities and institutions, some scholars and grassroots activists note that it has not consistently delivered community-led, action-oriented strategies. Here we examine gaps between theory and current practice of CBPR. First, we assess its fundamental practices through social movement theory. Second, we examine narratives from grassroots leaders who have utilized CBPR in their environmental justice efforts. Three key facilitating factors are often cited for authentic applications of CBPR: (1) grounding research within community-specific opportunities for change, (2) collaborating with a strong community partner, and (3) facilitating flexibility in research processes. Building on previous scholarship, we investigate the complexity of CBPR implementation that may dampen its potency as a social change strategy and highlight the need for nuanced and critical application of best practices to suit local contexts. This is accomplished by pairing the theoretical framework with the experiences of four community leaders who are members of the Moving Forward Network (MFN). Narratives from their experiences with partnering with academic institutions speak to how theoretical complexities with CBPR occur in practice.

Aligning Community-Engaged Research Methods with Diverse Community Organizing Approaches

Community-Engaged Research (CER) often involves partnerships between academic or professional researchers and community organizers. Critical CER and organizing each aim to mobilize people and resources to produce actionable knowledge in order to build grassroots leadership and power that promote equity and justice for marginalized communities. This article argues that critical CER collaborations can benefit by carefully matching the choice of research methods with community partners’ organizing strategies to ensure that research aligns with and supports organizing goals. We aim to add to the CER literature a more specific rationale for why professional researchers should share control over the choice of research methods with community organizers, and more detailed guidance for how CER teams can select methods that best advance organizers’ goals. After summarizing the many ways in which collaborative research can support community organizing efforts, we argue that different CER methods align best with widely-used organizing approaches (including Alinskyite, Freirean, feminist, community building and resilience-based, and transformative approaches). We illustrate the discussion with examples of research conducted by and with organizations rooted in the environmental justice (EJ) movement, which prioritizes community organizing as a strategy and draws from multiple organizing traditions, including a case study of research techniques used by the Environmental Health Coalition, one of the oldest EJ groups in the U.S.

Seeing peace like a city: local visions and diplomatic proposals for future solutions

ABSTRACT Violently contested cities are at the heart of ethnonational conflicts, and their final status is often a central issue for peace negotiations. These negotiations, typically led by national politicians and diplomats, include little, if any, representation of local voices, which are often fundamentally different from those of state-centric actors. This article integrates the seeing like a city theoretical approach with the literature on urban peacebuilding and asks: How is seeing peace like a city different from seeing peace like a state? and whether the visions of local grassroots leaders are complementary or contradictory to the models that national decision-makers propose for cities. We analyse the case study of Jerusalem using historical analysis, public opinion surveys, and in-depth interviews. Our findings show the distinction between the focus of state-centric processes on ‘rigid’ issues (e.g., security and sovereignty) and the focus of city-centric processes on ‘soft’ issues (e.g., tolerance and daily life).

Advocacy on the outside: Advancing support for system‐impacted students through grassroots leadership

AbstractCommunity College Reentry Programs (CCRPs) are campus‐based programs that serve formerly incarcerated students by providing targeted services attuned to their needs. Currently, there are 62 community colleges in California that have CCRPs. While emerging research has begun to examine the experiences of students in these programs, little is known about the staff who lead them. This study uses a grassroots leadership perspective to examine how CCRP staff lead for organizational change. Through the presentation of two case narratives of CCRPs, I show how staff lead reform efforts towards advancing justice and equity for their students on campus and in the community. My findings have implications for strengthening aid for these programs and better supporting their staff.

"Leaderless" resistance? An anatomy of female leadership in Orang Asli grassroots movements

This article unpacks community-level female leadership among Malaysia’s indigenous Orang Asli community. The power dynamics of this community’s relationship with state institutions have been uneven. Critics accuse the authorities of infantilizing the community, through gendered and patriarchal behaviour (for example, male government officers only interact with male heads of communities). Based on the fieldwork including seven interviews with female and male Orang Asli grassroots leaders of an independent, pro-indigenous movement – one which is apparently “leaderless” in terms of its organizational structure – we show how they challenge the abovementioned attitudes through neo-empowerment and agentic efforts, through collective narratives of the environment, camaraderie and compassion. These grassroots efforts also appeal to a new cohort of indigenous people, embody gentle negotiation strategies, and recognize gendered discourses of agency and control. We show how this leads to the creation of a more inclusive, progressive, and feminist-driven empowerment strategy, eventually building resistance to traditional patriarchal structures.

The Deadly Intersections of COVID‐19: Race, States, Inequalities and Global Society edited by SuneraThobani, Bristol University Press, 2022, 176 pp., $83.95 (hardback).

The Deadly Intersections of COVID‐19: Race, States, Inequalities and Global Society edited by SuneraThobani, Bristol University Press, 2022, 176 pp., $83.95 (hardback).