Week 7: Campaigning

Introduction

This week was written by Tom Morton, Fidèle Mutwarasibo and Owain Smolović Jones.

The history of Black leaders campaigning for change is well known and includes civil rights and anti-apartheid movements, as well as the Black Lives Matter movement of today. This week you will consider the role campaigning plays in leadership practice, including how campaigns use and interact with power, how they can play an important part in developing leadership skills, and are in themselves significant practices in leadership.

Figure 1 Campaigning means mobilising for change

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The image shows a crowd of protesters holding placards. One placard reads ‘Black Lives Matter’.

Figure 1 Campaigning means mobilising for change

There are many approaches to campaigning, but this week you will consider them in two contexts:

1. Campaigning for a candidate. This means getting individuals into positions of leadership and is focused on elections in government, workplaces, and civil society organisations. Election campaigns have been a key area of struggle for Black leaders, from the first Black councillors to the first Black presidents.
2. Campaigning on an issue. This looks at leading a campaign for change on a particular issue and applying pressure on people in leadership positions to enact change. It includes internal campaigning e.g. on workplace issues, and external campaigning e.g. in social movements.

By the end of this week, you should be able to:

• understand what campaigning means in practice, as well as its strengths and limitations as a model of organising
• understand and evaluate various frameworks for running campaigns
• apply one or more of these frameworks to your leadership practice.