Political Participation and Grassroots Mobilizations in Semi-Authoritarian, Post-Authoritarian and Authoritarian Contexts

Abstract

After a period of relative opening, civil society in the last decade has been facing an increasing number of challenges in in semi-authoritarian, post-authoritarian and authoritarian contexts, where a mix of government repression, lack of resources and hostile media environment make mobilization extremely difficult. Nevertheless, not only do civil society actors continue to organize but also new actors and movements appear and make novel claims, skillfully navigating techno-political environments of repression, marginalization and co-optation. The panel explores these “least-likely” cases of mobilization, focusing on feminist, human rights and Islamic movements in a broad geographical range covering Eastern Europe, the post-Soviet countries (such as Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Tajikistan), and China. The papers in the panel offer diverse and complementary theoretical perspectives on social movement mobilization in illiberal contexts. To begin with, the panel explores the everyday strategies of activists to cope with constant insecurity and threat. Particularly interesting in this sense are the interactions between local and transnational activists. The latter’s position outside of the state and its media systems allows them to intervene in the public debate and raise issues impossible to raise within the countries in question. At the same time, this critical outsider status also means they often have difficulties assessing the domestic resonance of issues and the risks faced by activists on the ground. Probably, the biggest threat faced by mobilizations in illiberal contexts, not at the level of individual activists but of movements as a whole, is that they remain marginal, inconsequential for the public debate and incapable of attracting wide support. Indeed, the problem with civil society in illiberal contexts is often that they do not represent a silent majority, but act against the views of a majority that supports the government and depends on state media highly hostile to minority views. Thus, exploring the affordances of digital media to organize, communicate alternative messages and build solidarity becomes a pressing task, both for activists and researchers. Finally, apart from repression and marginalization, activists in illiberal contexts face the well-known threat of co-optation that raises a series of ethical and organizational dilemmas with no straight-forward solution. All in all, the panel asks how to assess failure and success in such a precarious mobilizing environment where the very right to mobilize is consistently questioned. Moving beyond the simple picture of shrinking space for civil society, the panel explores how activists negotiate powerful local traditions and forms of mobilization diffused from abroad, on-the-ground risks and transnational expectations, and finally, online and offline actions, in a continuing effort to mobilize against the tide and against all odds.

Title	Details
NGO Activism in the "Shrinking Space": Engaging with Restrictions, Coping Resourcefully	View Paper Details
What Is Left to Women’s Protest in Authoritarian Russia? Exploration of Opportunities for Mobilization	View Paper Details
Challenging the People’s War on Terror: Transnational Civic Mobilization Against Crimes Against Humanity in China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region	View Paper Details