Political Will and Influencing Stakeholders
It is frequently said in politics that, whenever a policy succeeds or fails, 'political will' - or the lack of it - affected the outcome.
In this section, you'll learn:
The definition of 'political will'
How to determine if your campaign has political will
Who influences nurses' political will in California
Yale's School of Public Health defines political will here:
"Political will exists when a sufficient set of decision-makers with a common understanding of a particular problem on the formal agenda is committed to supporting a commonly perceived, potentially effective policy solution."
So, what does it actually mean?
Political will could be a lack of influence to achieve an outcome, insufficient resources to gather the influence, impediments by interest groups, institutions, or agencies, or encountering any number of other difficulties.
To determine your topic's political will, ask yourself these questions:
Who supports or opposes your topic?
What are the competing interests?
Do you have the power, influence, and means to achieve the outcome you want?
What are the necessary actions to take to achieve your outcome?
How strongly held are the preferences of key decision-makers?
How do you manage relationships with stakeholders who oppose and support different initiatives within the same industry or profession?
In this section, we will share with you who are key players influencing nurses’ political will in California so you can navigate and account for outside influences on your advocacy campaign.