Civil Society in Politics and Southeast Asia in Civil Society

Abstract

This chapter lays out the conceptual framework for the volume. It begins by offering a working definition of civil society as a space open to ideas and organisations, largely but not exclusively domestic, rather than a set of organisations of a particular ilk – and of violence-tolerating ‘uncivil society’ as operating in the same broad milieu. Surveying the literature on civil society as well as the parameters and key features of local experience over time, the chapter teases out both where the civil society literature offers useful insight or falls short, and what Southeast Asian cases might contribute to it. Importantly, associated with (whatever the direction of causality) a turn towards democratic backsliding or autocratisation across the region has been the (re-)emergence of anti-democratic civil society organisations (CSOs) and social movements – those openly exclusive in their messages and membership, inclined towards violent tactics, or supportive of anti-democratic regimes. While ‘progressive’, pro-democratic, broadly inclusive CSOs remain active and critically important, a spatial perspective on civil society makes clear the ideological, strategic, and aspirational range this sphere subsumes. The chapter concludes with an overview of the contributions to come in the volume.