Interrogating Civic Space: Applying a Civic-Driven Change Perspective

Kees Biekart, Alan Fowler

Research output: Chapter/Conference proceedingChapterAcademic

18 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Throughout the world, we recognise a tendency for civic space to be limited by governments and private sector actors. A common reason is to reduce the advocacy pressure of civil society groups on their interests. But the issue seems to be more complex than just a tendency of ‘shrinking civic space’ which is undermining development. We see the influence of historical latency on civic agency and actors within socio-political processes, contributing to a renaissance of nationalisms as being a key problem. The question arises how civic agency is deployed to counteract these initiatives, and how latent civic resistance is being mobilised. A framework of civic-driven change is applied to analyse the political potential of these forces, and in this way also to ‘interrogate’ civic space. Is this really a useful tool for analysing opportunities for social resistance, or is it rather a way to depoliticise civil society discourse?
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationCivil Society Responses to Changing Civic Spaces
EditorsKees Biekart, Tiina Kontinen, Marianne Millstein
PublisherPalgrave Macmillan
Chapter2
Pages27-48
Edition1
ISBN (Electronic)978-3-031-23305-0
ISBN (Print)978-3-031-23304-3, 978-3-031-23307-4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 25 May 2023

Publication series

SeriesEADI Global Development Series

Bibliographical note

© The Author(s) 2023

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Interrogating Civic Space: Applying a Civic-Driven Change Perspective'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this