Post-wristband blues: The mixed fortunes of UK development campaigning under austerity and the Conservatives

Abstract

This article explores the construction of an international development campaign coalition in difficult circumstances. The Enough Food If campaign ‘which involved over 200 NGOs’ was the first campaign coalition since the highly prominent Make Poverty History. But the circumstances within which the campaign took place were considerably changed. Furthermore, the internal dynamics of coalition building were complex and hardly auspicious. The article argues that, fundamentally, the purpose of the coalition was therapeutic, that is, its main aim was to generate the possibility of future campaigns through a new success narrative amid the uncertainty within the sector. This was done by framing the issue of hunger in a generalised, inclusive, and amenable way that made it difficult to fail. However, this success strategy brought with it its own equivocations.