Thinking Democratically: A Comprehensive Approach to Countering and Preventing Shrinking Space

Executive Summary
‘Shrinking civic space’ has been the buzzword in international fora and discussions on civil society
for the last 10 years. In roughly the same period, data and research have shown that democracy is in
decline globally, with some arguing we are experiencing the third wave of autocratisation. 1 The
challenges to democracy have only intensified as a result of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic,
with the adoption of restrictive measures across the world and serious concerns over the looming
economic recession.
The phenomenon of ‘shrinking space’ has long been considered to be separate from the global trend
of increasing challenges to democracies around the world. However, more recently an increasing
number of policy-makers and practitioners have called on the international community to broaden
the narrative of ‘shrinking civic space’ to a closing of democratic space more generally. They argue
that the current narrative of civic space has led to a narrow interpretation of the issue as a civil
society problem, leading to a reactive and legalistic response.
This tension resulting from the lack of conceptual clarity on closing space lies at the heart of the
mixed and limited results from the international community’s efforts to counter closing civic space.
This paper has attempted to provide further evidence in order to enhance the understanding of
different tactics for closing democratic space, and thereby contribute to a strategic framework for
countering and preventing attacks on democratic space.
This paper brings together 7 case studies on closing democratic space by experts from countries in
Latin America, Eastern Europe and sub-Saharan Africa as well as examples from Europe. The paper
concludes with actionable recommendations for preventing and reacting to closing democratic space.
Three broad tactics to close democratic space were identified in the research that we suggest as a
framework of analysis for understanding closing democratic space. These are:
1. Restricting civic space (particularly freedom of expression, assembly and association) with
various legal, administrative, extra-legal and political measures, and thereby inhibiting the
proper functioning of media outlets, emerging political (opposition) forces, and civil society
organisations (CSOs).
1
Lührmann, A. & Lindberg, S. (2019): a third wave of autocratization is here: what is new about it? Democratization 26:7.
Available here.
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