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Amnesty International Amnesty International was founded in London in 1961. It is an activist Worldwide Organization that deals with various cases of human rights support and proper fulfilling of the benefits given to citizens by their governments. This organization takes an active part in reconciling matters associated with political killings, torture, political prisoners, and even death penalty. To continue, AI comprises an account of internal changes and strains of Guatemala, Nigeria, and the bizarrely appalling imperial Bokassa regime, for which much of the blame is laid on France. Amnesty takes much credit for its dependence on unfashionable idealism and private initiative that is very relevant to the organizations structure in general. There is also something, but surprisingly little, on one of the main reasons for the world being a better place than forty years ago, the collapse of the Soviet system and the regimes it imposed in East Central Europe.
Has Amnesty always worried too much about being labeled anti-Communist? Speaking about the AIs history, there is also an account, admittedly rather understated, when Amnesty got things wrong- it was drawn into intercessions on behalf of captured members of the German Baader-Meinhof gang, who were terrorists in need of psychiatrists Olson M. , p. , 12). As one knows, Amnesty was born in age when conflicts seemed likely to be ideological or anti-colonial. Has it quite adjusted to a different world in which much conflict, in advanced countries as well as in others, may be ethnic or inter-communal? The cases of Rwanda and of former Yugoslavia are hopeful. What is more there are a lot of information about Israelis and Palestinians.
Will the IRA and ETA be the last phenomena of their kind? Will the rather different fanaticism of the Baader-Meinhof variety appear with new slogans in some new setting? Unfortunately a similar, but less well-informed, bias colors the reporting of British difficulties with law, order, community tensions, and political terrorism in Northern Ireland. Many people approach these problems with assumptions, which unionists would dispute and does not show much understanding of the practical problems of policing a province where some people in both communities resort to terrorism and rather more are ambivalent about it.
The Ulster case, like the Baader-Meinhof one, raises the possibility that Amnesty, for all its good work and even better intentions, has not quite resolved the problems posed, for example in the Basque provinces, where a powerful political impulse is channeled into murder and other forms of terrorism. Perhaps no area in mass political behavior research is beset with such serious methodological difficulties as the study of participation in political protest and other unconventional activities. Some of the problems, such as finding and eliciting truthful responses from the limited number of individuals who engage in these types of behaviors, can and have been remedied through better sampling and more sensitive interviewing methods in national and local probability surveys. Amnesty International has more than a million members and supporters in over 140 countries and territories (Green J. , p. , 45). Amnesty International is impartial and independent of any government, political persuasion or religious creed. Its work is financed largely by subscriptions and donations from the worldwide membership that has been established in order to assist political prisoners in various states or republics of the world.
It is important to discuss or analyze the particular aspects associated with the technique of mobilizing supporters and attracting new members to the group. First, AI was able to overcome the barriers to collective actions in different countries it functions in. The main law or document that serves as the guarantee of the groups stable work is the International Treaty on Human Rights that was signed by practically all countries of the world. One needs to understand that establishing proper relations with public was tremendously difficult and complex at the beginning of AI existence. Many governments opposed the establishment of the organization of such kind in their land. What is more, a number of official rulers feared that depicted above establishment would eventually bring changes to the political structure in their countries.
These governments were reluctant to accept AI as the official association because lots of their unlawful doings and acts that violated human rights could be revealed. However, AI management was well aware of this fact and concentrated on promotion of the group to the general public. Common people, but not governments present or comprise the real power of AI. The main strategy that was used to overcome barriers of collective action is the technique of wide acceptance that served as the main appeal of the organization (Olson M. , p. , 131). In other words, everyone can become a member of AI regardless of gender, class, and status in the society. There are Strategic Activism Coordinators and Regional Activism Coordinators that are always ready to discuss various options of one getting a membership with this group.
What is more, all members, donors, and contributors are strongly encouraged to become Human Rights Defenders, which is a general form of activism of AI. All members are usually invited to the annual day of fundraising as well as various meetings and gatherings that study and develop new ways of becoming more helpful to individuals. As an Amnesty International member activist one can take part in the following factions or units. First, the local groups are very large in number due to the specific arrangement of the general structure of these establishments. People do not have to go far from their homes in order to participate in the work of AI. Individuals join these groups because they adopt a sense of belonging to the organization that cares about proper fulfillment of human rights and takes real actions to achieve its goals.
The members of even local groups are able to see the results of AI work. This fact largely contributes to peoples realization of the importance of the matter as well as significance of the humane aspect also. In other words, people join AI because they are well aware that organization will stand up and fight for its each and every member who declares that his or her rights have been violated. One of the individuals who belongs to AI states in his memorandum to the press: When one of the members borrowed a real-life army tank and got council permission to park it in the city square for a Tiananmen memorial I knew that Amnesty local groups work (Crisp Tracey SA/NT Region activist). To continue, specialist group or networks is another way of membership with AI.
These establishments operate in practically every region and concentrate on coordinating the specific efforts of the local groups. Members met regularly in order to plan particular benefits and actions of the organization. On a monthly basis, networks take on urgent action appeal cases that have been researched by Amnesty International. National network is the third form of membership introduced by this association. This branch was founded or developed for people for people that are interested in taking action on a specific country or geographic area as part of a Regional Action Network (Central America or China) and for those wanting to respond to appeals by email (Asia Pacific Rapid Response Network) (Rabben L. , p. , 90). The members have thoroughly researched, well coordinated and sustained work on most countries around the world.
National team is the fourth establishment of such kind. Its member activist teams coordinate campaigns in various countries of the world in conjunction with relevant staff. This is a great option for people able to give energy in a sustained way on a specific area. National Teams are spread across numerous regions and have to coordinate their activities using email and the telephone. There are national teams working on specific countries, for example, Myanmar (Burma), and also teams working on specific issues, for example, refugees. There is a broad range of other options which may interest one including involvement in special appeals, special events, pro bono work, office volunteering and also in the policy and decision-making side the individuals organization.
All new contributors are sent an Action Pack, which gives a person a brief introduction on how Amnesty International operates as well as outlining how you can be part of the action. One can contact the local information center in order to find out more relevant information about the topic of human rights and Amnesty International as such. Finally, The basic benefits provided to AI members is the great possibility to feel oneself useful as well as helpful to many individuals in the world who need aid or assistance. More recent work in the field of political structure has developed and tested models of unconventional behavior based on rational choice theory, and here the use of cross-sectional data is more problematic. Such models, adapted from the framework set forth by Olson in the well-known Logic of Collective Action, posit that individuals calculate the expected costs and benefits associated with various alternatives before deciding whether to participate in or abstain from collective activities (Olson M. , p. , 67). Numerous studies drawing on the Olsonian Logic have appeared in the literature.
Some identify the private payoffs, usually of a social or psychological nature, that allegedly motivate unconventional action. Others show that individual preferences for public goods, coupled with estimates of the likelihood of group success in providing the goods through collective behavior and perceptions of the importance of personal participation, are the critical explanatory variables. Moreover, individuals who have participated in protest may change their attitudes as a result of their past participation, either by absorbing new information about a given situation and their own capabilities or by rationalizing to themselves or the survey interviewer that their actions must have been changed due to their high levels of alienation, their strong belief that the protest group could be successful, and the like. Amnesty International official report in 1991 concluded that one solution to this problem is to alter the dependent variable to represent the individuals future willingness or intention to participate in protest activities. Much research in the field does make use of behavioral intentions as the dependent variable, sometimes weighting these intentions with reports of past behavior in order to make the intentions variable more realistic. Although these models help overcome the temporal ordering problem, they are unsatisfactory to the extent that, as is often the case, the relationship between behavioral intentions and actual behavior is weak.
Neo-Pluralists argue that it is important to overcome the barriers to collective action in the early stage of the organizations history. In other words, people are to become aware of the institutional goals and aims from the very beginning in order to contribute to the successful growth and development of the entity later (Lichbach, R. , p. , 89). Amnesty International applied the mentioned above logic introduced by Neo-Pluralists because such approach presented the only reasonable path for the normal and quick expansion of the association as the socially responsible unit. To continue, AI directors inform its members about the particular improvements and achievements of the organization in order to ensure the group practical viability as well as desire to continue working in the set direction. Such means of influence enable members to see the real results of their work, thus contributing to their level of consciousness and self worth (Olson M. , p. , 90). Using the Neo-Pluralist Argument, it is clear that people who are part of AI receive the psychological benefits form the membership in this organization.
Although there are some expressive aspects presented in the general perception of belonging to AI advantage, people feel great psychological satisfaction as well as personal approval of their thoughts and actions. To continue, it is obvious that AI concentrates on providing its members with a particular mood or emotion of belonging to a well-known group that concentrates on making the world a better place. Such humane ideas present the greatest appeal to everybody who is willing to join the organization as well as work for the sake of participating in various non-profit projects. To continue, Neo-Pluralist approach helps one to derive the proper understanding of the benefits that can be potentially derived from joining the organization. One needs to carefully consider the cost that will be encountered in the case of becoming a member of the group. The issues that belong to this notion are the personal time, expenses, and an opportunity to do something else.
An individual who wants to join the AI must carefully consider all alternatives and options that are available on hand. Bibliography. Aldrich M, Behavioral Theories: Extensive Study; Penguin, London, 1997. Green J.
The Unknown Facts about Amnesty International; Colorado Push. , Colorado, (CD-Rom Version), 1999. Lichbach R, Developing the Proper Relations with Public; Irwin McGraw-Hill, 1995. Olson M, Collective Action in Use; Academic Press, New York, 1991 -reprinted version. Rabben Linda, Amnesty's Roots; Minnesota Publishers, Minnesota, (CD-Rom Version), 2000.
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Research essay sample on Baader Meinhof Amnesty International
