Thinking Democratically: A Comprehensive Approach to Countering and Preventing Shrinking Space
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1.<br />
Introduction<br />
For nearly a decade now, a phenomenon termed ‘shrinking civic space’ has been at the forefront of<br />
international discussions about civil society. Following the example of the Russian ‘foreign agents’<br />
law in 2012, a global <strong>and</strong> systematic trend of restrictions on civil society has been identified <strong>and</strong><br />
labelled as ‘shrinking space’ by many ac<strong>to</strong>rs in the field. Numerous research projects <strong>and</strong> moni<strong>to</strong>ring<br />
projects have been undertaken in order <strong>to</strong> underst<strong>and</strong> the phenomenon, <strong>and</strong> over time, these have<br />
been able <strong>to</strong> demonstrate a global <strong>and</strong> growing trend of threats <strong>to</strong> <strong>and</strong> restrictions on civil society,<br />
media, activists <strong>and</strong> active citizens in an increasing number of countries. 2<br />
In roughly the same period, a growing trend of challenges <strong>and</strong> threats <strong>to</strong> democracy has been<br />
identified by a number of prominent scholars <strong>and</strong> research institutions under various terms, ranging<br />
from ‘democratic backsliding’ 3 , ‘democratic rollback’ 4 <strong>and</strong> ‘authoritarian resurgence’. 5 A<br />
comprehensive empirical overview of all au<strong>to</strong>cratisation episodes from the last century based on data<br />
from the Varieties of Democracy Project (V-Dem) showed that au<strong>to</strong>cratisation is now characterised<br />
by gradual regressions in both au<strong>to</strong>cratic <strong>and</strong> democratic states, but mainly affects democracies –<br />
including long-established wealthy democracies. 6<br />
2<br />
See for a chronological overview, see European Parliament (2017): <strong>Shrinking</strong> space for civil society: the EU response.<br />
Available here.<br />
3<br />
See: Bermeo, Nancy (2016): On Democratic Backsliding. Journal of Democracy, 27 (1), 5-19; <strong>and</strong> Levitsky, Steven & Ziblatt,<br />
Daniel (2018): How Democracies Die. Crown Publishing, New York.<br />
4<br />
Diamond, Larry (2008): The Democratic Rollback. The Resurgence of the Preda<strong>to</strong>ry State. Foreign Affairs, 87 (2), 36–48.<br />
5<br />
Gat, Azar (2007): The Return of Authoritarian Great Powers. Foreign Affairs, 86 (4), 59-69<br />
6<br />
Lührmann, A. & Lindberg, S. (2019): a third wave of au<strong>to</strong>cratization is here: what is new about it? Democratization 26:7.<br />
Available here.<br />
8