Political Organizing and Global Catastrophic Risk

The author argues that achieving major policy wins on global catastrophic risk requires political organising: the process by which groups of citizens come together to build the capacity for sustained, sophisticated civic advocacy. Drawing on the 1980s Nuclear Freeze Campaign as a case study, the author contends that decentralised structures that empower local groups and develop local leadership tend to outperform centralised, top-down approaches, and that success requires the right mix of organising and mobilising. The author concludes that researchers should reflect on reorienting their work toward recruitment and leadership development, while noting that research still plays an important role within a broader ecosystem of civic activism.