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Theory: Tactics Are Not Strategy

So far I have been writing about the tactics of digital activism without explicitly stating what a “tactic” is. However, a recent e-mail from a DigiActive team member showed me that in fact the definition of what a tactic is – and how it is different from strategy – is not clear. The purpose of this post is to clarify that critical difference between tactics and strategy and how they relate to digital activism.

When explaining the difference between tactics and strategy, I find an analysis of the roots of the two words extremely helpful. Strategy comes from the Greek work “strategos” meaning “general.” Tactic comes from the Greek work “taktikas” meaning “foot soldier”.

As you can see from the image below, the strategy (general) guides the tactics (foot soldiers) within an activist campaign. Tactics are the actions which allow you to achieve your strategic goal.

No successful digital activism campaign can survive without an understanding of the importance of both tactics and strategy. For example, when I was in New Orleans I met with an advocacy organization that wanted advice about creating digital videos. Their organization is generally concerned with preventing the demolition of flood-damaged historic buildings in New Orleans.

At first, it was unclear what style of video would be appropriate for them. Should they adopt a mood of drama and outrage? Should they simply report information about buildings scheduled for demolition? Should the videos include a call to action? The reason for this uncertainty was because they were trying to decide how to use digital video, which is a tactic, without a clear strategy to guide that tactic.

During the course of the meeting we created a goal, the first step in developing a strategy. We decided that their goal for their current campaign was to increase the transparency of the process of demolishing flood-damaged schools. Then we placed digital video tactic within the context of this overall strategy and it became much more clear how video should be used.

If increasing transparency is their strategic goal, then video should be used as a tactic to inform people about the need for transparency and to inspire people to take action to help the advocacy organization pressure the New Orleans government to be more transparent in their demolition process.

This is just one example of how to apply the theory of tactics and strategy to the field of digital activism. Try to apply these idea to your own organization or campaign. Without both a clear strategy and creative and effective tactics, no digital activism project can succeed.

image credit: “Organizing: People, Power and Change,” class notes by Prof. Marshall Ganz of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. (note: In the original image, the word “foot soldiers” read “ranks”. I changed the word to increase clarity.)