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10 - Civil Society Resistance to Democratic Backsliding

from Part II - Civil Society, Social Media, and Political Messaging

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2025

By
Mark R. Beissinger
Edited by
Valerie J. Bunce ,
Thomas B. Pepinsky ,
Rachel Beatty Riedl  and
Kenneth M. Roberts
Valerie J. Bunce
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Thomas B. Pepinsky
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Rachel Beatty Riedl
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Kenneth M. Roberts
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
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Summary

This chapter explores the possibilities and dilemmas that civil society actors face in resisting and reversing democratic backsliding through examples from around the world. It examines the conditions that shape civil society activism under backsliding and the roles it has played in containing or reversing autocratization. As it shows, in a number of cases civil society resistance has been critical in restraining and reversing backsliding. But it has been better able to counter backsliding when popular support for the backsliding leader has eroded and the opposition is able to work through institutions rather than having to work against them. As backsliding proceeds, institutional channels for influence deteriorate. As a result, there is a critical window during which civil society resistance stands a better chance of containing backsliding: before electoral processes and institutional constraints on executives are fully captured. Once capture occurs, civil society resistance moves to the much more dangerous and difficult task of confronting rather than preventing dictatorship.

Keywords

Democratic backslidinginstitutional constraintspopular supportcivil societyresistancemobilizationprotestpolarizationcultural politics
Type
Chapter
Information
Global Challenges to Democracy
Comparative Perspectives on Backsliding, Autocracy, and Resilience
 , pp. 196 - 214
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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