“To be effective at selling ideas, at being a lobbyist, influencing other people, you have to be very sure of yourself.” PeopleIdeasInfluenceSellingLobbyists Author:Duncan Green
“When you get talking to people in positions of power, you find that often their worldview is framed either in terms of their disciplinary studies at university and/or the country where they first got interest in development.” PeopleFirstsCountryTermInterestTalkingStudyPositionDevelopmentUniversityWorldviewFramedPosition Of Power Author:Duncan Green
“Some kinds of activists are more willing to try stuff out, see if works and think on their feet, but some of the people who are working on [change] find that very difficult: They've been schooled into thinking you have to come up with the perfect plan in advance. It has become a bit technocratic.” PeopleIfsThinkingTryingKindStuffBitsDifficultPerfectPlansFeetWillingCome UpActivistSchooledWilling To Try Author:Duncan Green
“People think there's a single solution to complex problems, and the solution is often making an enemy of a group of people - pulling back and rejecting the other.” PeopleThinkingProblemEnemyGroupsSolutionsComplexesPullingRejectingComplex Problems Author:Duncan Green
“There's a diversion between economic reality - integration, global village, everybody depending on everybody else - and cultural reality, which is people feeling invaded, undermined, threatened, wanting to have "stand-your-ground" legislation all over the place. It's alarming because at the moment, the fear is outweighing the benefits, and that's partially because the benefits have been so unequally distributed that lots of people don't feel better off. They feel threatened, angry and despairing.” PeopleFeelsHas BeensMomentsFeelingsRealityEconomicBenefitsAngryVillageFeel BetterLegislationThreatenedIntegrationBetter OffDiversionGlobal VillageStand Your Ground Author:Duncan Green
“Activists can get very preachy about things. It's more about understanding people's own experiences and tapping into them.” PeopleUnderstandingActivistTapping Author:Duncan Green
“Often we're having an argument with something imaginary - a fixed idea of the "enemy" and the good. We need to get beyond that and actually develop a deep curiosity about people and systems and understand them better.” PeopleNeedsIdeasEnemyArgumentCuriosityFixedImaginary Author:Duncan Green
“We should look at how "the enemy" - people that you wouldn't necessarily agree with - have done change and see whether there's bits in there that we could learn from.” PeopleShouldLooksDoneBitsEnemyAgree Author:Duncan Green
“There's a tendency for people who believe passionately in something to be so convinced of their rightness that if they just repeat themselves a lot at the person, that will convince them. And that hasn't worked on things like immigration or trade deals.” PeopleIfsBelievePersonsDealsTradeConvincedImmigrationTendenciesRepeatsConvince Author:Duncan Green
“People are saying, "I have a right to my opinion. Don't just keep condescending, telling me what to think." There's something slightly liberating about that, but also it lends itself to being taken advantage of, because in come the demagogues.” PeopleThinkingOpinionTakenAdvantageLiberatingCondescendingTaken Advantage Author:Duncan Green
“If you were disabled in Russia, you had to re-register every year, and it took up to six months to re-register, so people who lost limbs in Afghanistan had to prove that their leg hadn't grown back.” PeopleIfsYearsLostMonthsProveSixLegsRussiaAfghanistanSix MonthsLimbsDisabledRegister Author:Duncan Green
“Lots of people in the open system are very determined to try and strengthen evidence-based policy.” PeopleTryingPolicyEvidenceDetermined Author:Duncan Green
“You have a huge number of people who spend their time writing papers which show that migrants pay more to the country than they take out in benefits, and they say, "Why don't you approve of migration? Why don't you open up borders?" They're not able to empathize with how people feel about migration.” PeopleFeelsWritingCountryShowsAbleNumbersPayHugePaperBenefitsBordersPapersMigrationMigrantsHuge Numbers Author:Duncan Green
“I see [activists] getting really angry that people won't just do what the evidence tells them, and that's not very helpful. You need to actually think why that is.” PeopleThinkingNeedsEvidenceAngryHelpfulActivist Author:Duncan Green
“The post-Second World War simple system of social democracy and organized labour has fragmented massively, but just because people aren't organized in workplace trade unions doesn't mean they aren't in associations with other people - work-based, place-based, culture-based, sport-based, faith-based - there's a bit of an old rainbow coalition argument.” PeopleWorldMeanWarCultureSocialBitsSportsSimpleDemocracyArgumentTradeUnionsPostsWar Of The WorldsOrganizedLabourAssociationRainbowWorkplaceCoalitionsSecond World WarFragmentedTrade UnionsFaith BasedSocial Democracy Author:Duncan Green
“I sound like a church nut, but look at the role of the churches in the civil rights movement in the States. People are brought together in other ways that can become drivers of change.” PeopleWayLooksStatesTogetherSoundChurchRolesRightsMovementCivil RightsDriversNutsCivil Rights Movement Author:Duncan Green