In this article, we talk about how you can analyse the stakeholders in your activist campaign using the spectrum of allies, power mapping and movement mapping.

📚 This guide is part of a series on campaign strategy.

Types of analyses #

There are a few different ways of analysing stakeholders:

• Spectrum of allies: a strategy tool to examine the range of social forces and groups, spread across a spectrum, from those who are the most dedicated opponents to those who are the most active supporters.

• Power mapping: a process of identifying key decision-makers and influencers in a particular issue area or sector.

• Movement mapping: is a process of analysing how key actors within a movement of movements relate to one another.

When you map out the stakeholders in your campaign, allies are the stakeholders you can work with, build alliances with, and share resources with. Constituents are “the community”: the people you want to side with your position and help apply pressure to your target. Your target is often a decision maker: someone who can give you the change you want. In representative democracies these are often politicians, ministers, or members of parliament. Sometimes we have limited capacity to influence our primary targets, so it can useful to identify secondary targets: stakeholders who have more direct influence with the primary target. If your primary target is the CEO of a corporation, then your secondary targets might include shareholders.

A power map can be a useful reference and shared analysis during a campaign. This is a simple tool to identify where key stakeholders (allies, targets, opponents and constituents) stand in relation to your campaign objective, and their relative levels of influence.

Targets #

These are, in the context of strategy, always people. Whether the politicians whose decisions we’re trying to influence, or managers of companies who leave us no choice but to organize a strike. Bear this in mind when thinking about targets. You want to know the culture, goals and purpose of institutions you’re aiming to put pressure on. Targets can be broadly categorized as primary and secondary, primary being the decision-makers you want to influence and secondary being all potential allies and people who would benefit from the changes you’re trying to install as well as people with influence over the issue who are not decision-makers (institutions).

Improve this page #

This page is easy to improve. There are high quality resources available under a Creative Commons resources available in the section below. We can reuse these resources and integrate their content with this article.

External resources #

Creative Commons resources #

Stakeholder analysis #

• Stakeholder analysis by Wikipedia

Power mapping #

• Power mapping by Beautiful Trouble

• Power Mapping and Analysis by Anita Tang

• Making a power map at the start of your advocacy campaign by Public Lab

• Power mapping by The Change Agency

• Power mapping template by The Change Agency

Other guides #

• Identifying and Analyzing Stakeholders and Their Interests by Community Tool Box

• Involving People Most Affected by the Problem by Community Tool Box

• Involving Key Influentials in the Initiative by Community Tool Box

• Pillars of Power Analysis: Identify the Institutions by Beautiful Trouble

• The Four Roles of Social Activism by Bill Moyer

• Exploring Roles in Social Movements by Holly Hammond

Copyright resources #

Power mapping #

• Power Mapping 101

• Power Mapping Your Way to Success by Union of Concerned Scientists

• Power mapping activity by 350.org

• Chapter: Power Mapping Power Mapping, Charting Strategic Relationships Charting Strategic Relationships by DFA Training Academy

• Collection: Create a power map by Creative Equity Toolkit

• Stakeholder and power mapping tools by IPIS

• Introduction to Power Mapping by Center for Nonprofit Management

• Power Mapping: A Tool for Strategy & Influence by the Bonner Network

• PDF: Power points by Llano Del Rio

• A Guide to Power Mapping by GetUp

• Activities to Deepen Your Power-Building Analysis by Human Impact Partners

• Academic: The power mapping tool, a method for the empirical research of power relations by Eva Schiffer

• Using power mapping to campaign effectively for change by Aggie Taylor (2023)

• Collection: Map the power toolkit by LittleSis

Get training #

The following organisations offer training about power mapping:

• The Social Change Agency

Also check out our list of other training organisations.