STRATEGIES OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION AMONG LEADERS OF FORMAL AND INFORMAL ASSOCIATIONS

This article emphasizes the importance of looking beyond formal NGOs to those informal groups and societies which may be the basis of much social participation as well as the source for new social movements and formal organizations. Data for this article is drawn from qualitative research conducted in May 2011 by the authors and a team of student researchers, consisting of four in-depth interviews in each of 12 organizations, ranging from formal organizations to informal associations. We develop a classification for the groups studied: one third represent a classical "collective" organization, focused on group identity; one third represent a contemporary "team" group, focused on problem-solving; and one third represent a network type organization, focused on communication in society and problem solving. Based on our analysis, we discover four images of leaders corresponding to their primary strategies: leader as head of an establishment, leader as entrepreneur, leader as consultant, leader as ideologue. These different strategies lead to diverse organizational strategies and they result in different approaches to cooperation with local government.