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The Selective Closure of Civic Space
Title / Series / Name
Publication Volume
Publication Issue
Pages
Authors
Editors
Keywords
Global and Planetary Change
Economics and Econometrics
Political Science and International Relations
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
Law
Economics and Econometrics
Political Science and International Relations
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
Law
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14018/27037
Abstract
Scholars and NGOs have been raising alarms about the increasing political restraints that civil society organizations face globally. In this paper, we argue that closure is in fact a selective mechanism: governments attempt to reorganize civic space through a dual process of selective in- and exclusion of civil society organizations. Civil society organizations identified as critical of or even anti-government face obstruction and restraints, whereas simultaneously the space and state support for organizations identified as pro-government is expanded. Governments instrumentalize certain civil society organizations to their own benefit: they are sponsored and used to influence the realm of civil society in ways that directly legitimize state power and maintain an appearance of democracy. We illustrate our claims by discussing the reorganization of civic space in some countries of Central and Eastern Europe through the case of women’s rights activism.
Topic
Publisher
Place of Publication
Type
Journal article
Date
2021-07
Language
ISBN
Identifiers
10.1111/1758-5899.12973