Dynamics of Interaction in Contexts of Shrinking Civic Space

Since the turn of the millennium, political developments in numerous countries worldwide have been shaped by a phenomenon that is discussed as shrinking civic space: the increasing use of legal, administrative and extra-legal instruments of state coercion and the related usage of enforcement institutions in order to restrict the scope of action of civil society actors and their international supporters.

The project investigates the interaction between governmental strategies of restriction and domestic and international responses. This interaction is studied in three separate fields. First, the project analyzes resistance to so-called NGO laws, i.e. legal restrictions on civic space. Second, a dissertation project has set out to study the interplay between governmental restrictions, domestic election observers, and international democracy support in the context of electoral processes. Third, the project looks at civic space restrictions and domestic protest dynamics in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The project ties in with research on shrinking civic space conducted within the framework of the previous research in the context of the project "Justice Conflicts in the Promotion of Democracy" and the International Consortium on Closing Civic Space (iCon) . It is also embedded in the work of the research network "External Democratization Policy" (EDP) . For important preliminary work, see the article "The contested spaces of civil society in a plural world: Norm contestation in the debate about restrictions on international civil society support"  and the special issue with Democratization entitled "The negotiation of democracy promotion".