Constraining campaigning: the legal treatment of non-profit policy advocacy across 24 countries

This paper presents a comparative analysis of the findings of a 24 country study of the legal restrictions on the freedom of non-profit and charitable organisations to engage in public policy campaigning. The countries are divided into those which organise the legal status of non-profit bodies around the concept of a charity, and those that do not. The central finding is that all and only charity law countries have constraints on campaigning which are specific to non-profit bodies. The paper reviews a number of possible explanations for this, at the level of jurisprudential rationales which might show that it is necessary or at least rational for only the charity law countries to have developed such restrictions. To varying degrees, all are found wanting. It is suggested that no explanation based on an ‘inner logic of the law’ will serve to explain the phenomenon, and that future research might concentrate on comparative political history rather than on jurisprudence. Planning Officer, Social Services Department, Royal County of Berkshire. formerfy Acting Head of Policy Analysis and Research, National Council for Voluntary Organisations, London, United Kingdom. (Most of the research for this paper was conducted when this author was Head of Policy Analysis and Research at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, London, UK.) Full information about the research summarised here is given in 6 and Randon, 1994. This research was conducted with the support of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations. We are grateful to all our respondents for their time in answering a difficult questionnaire, provision of documentation and alternative contacts, patience and advice. They are too numerous to list here: a full list is available from the authors. Some, to whom we are particularly grateful, must remain anonymous because they work in countries or in professional positions where campaigning is a sensitive subject. The Nuffield Foundation made available a small grant to cover our translation costs; PROFTRANS undertook most of the translations for us. Martin Knapp, Marilyn Taylor and Nigel Tarling helped to identify potential respondents. Tymen van der Ploeg, Jacques Defourny and Lindsay Driscoll assisted in piloting the questionnaire. Lindsay Driscoll and Bridget Phelps read and commented on early drafts of part of the paper. The editors and anonymous referees for this journal provided important additional information and advice. The usual disclaimer of responsibility for our errors applies to all of them.