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Self-maintenance vs. goal attainment: drivers of mortality anxiety in organized civil society

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 May 2020

Nicole Bolleyer Open the ORCID record for Nicole Bolleyer [Opens in a new window]  and
Patricia Correa
Nicole Bolleyer*
Affiliation:
University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
Patricia Correa
Affiliation:
Aston University, Birmingham, UK
*
*E-mail: n.bolleyer@ex.ac.uk
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Abstract

When do membership-based civil society organizations such as interest groups, political parties or service-oriented organizations consider their existence under threat? Distinguishing pressures of organizational self-maintenance from functional pressures of goal attainment, which all voluntary membership organizations – irrespective of their political or societal functions - need to reconcile, we propose a framework theorizing distinct categories of drivers of mortality anxiety in organized civil society. To test our hypotheses, we apply ordered logistic regression analysis to new data covering regionally and nationally active interest groups, service-oriented organizations and parties in Germany, Norway, Switzerland and the UK. We find that factors enhancing intraorganizational resilience thereby facilitating self-maintenance as well as exposure to different representation challenges complicating goal attainment have significant effects on mortality anxiety experienced by interest groups, political parties and service-oriented organizations alike – the former reducing, the latter enhancing it. Stressing the importance of a stable, durable organizational infrastructure with loyal and involved members to operate in increasingly volatile and diverse environments, our findings highlight the on-going importance of ‘traditional’ (sometimes considered ‘outdated’) organization-building.

Keywords

civil societymembership organizationsmortality anxietyorganizational viabilityEuropean Democracies
Type
Research Article
Information
European Political Science Review , Volume 12 , Issue 3 , August 2020 , pp. 271 - 288
Copyright
© European Consortium for Political Research 2020

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