[EM] Free Association / Delegable Proxy FAQ - "Unfocused" FAs?

[Abd ul-Rahman Lomax]

At 07:12 AM 3/2/2006, Jan Kok wrote:
>Does it make sense to have an FA that concerns itself with a multitude
>of issues, such as political parties and some church groups do?

Yes, in a way. An FA can form whenever there is some shared interest. 
It does not have to be a specific "issue," rather it is something 
that is a basis for connection and communication. A political party 
is interested in public life, and church group in religious and 
social life. It may help to remember that FAs are quite similar to 
ad-hoc informal associations that crop up all the time. The only 
difference, possibly, is that an FA starts with a set of traditions 
that are known to foster group unity, "free association" is shorthand for that.