Uncivil Society Research Articles

Conceptual Flipsiding in/and Illiberal Imagination: Towards a Discourse-Conceptual Analysis

This article highlights the increasingly prevalent process of so-called “conceptual flipsiding”: that is, of strategic reversal of notions once closely associated with liberal democracy, and of its key values of freedom, equality, tolerance, and the like, for the pronouncedly illiberal gains. Viewing the said process as part and parcel of the wider normalization of an illiberal imagination through strategic discourses and practices in and beyond the field of politics, the article contends that conceptual flipsiding increasingly allows recontextualizing and eventually normalizing a deeply illiberal understanding of polity, society, and community. Seeing these as increasingly redefined in recent years in many formerly liberal-democratic contexts by, especially, the far right and its numerous affiliates in politics, media, and/or un-civil society, the article argues for theoretical and analytical elaboration of conceptual flipsiding in order to depict its wider exploratory usability in grasping the current illiberal conceptual and discursive fluidity. The article emphasizes that, following the discourse-conceptual logic behind the conceptual flipsiding dynamics, one is able to deconstruct the ongoing infusion of key social and political concepts and discourses with new and often deeply illiberal understandings.

First foods in a packaged world: Results from the COMMIT consortium to protect young child diets in Southeast Asia

AbstractAlthough commercially produced complementary foods (CPCFs) are increasingly sold throughout Southeast Asia, concerns have been raised about CPCFs nutritional quality, labelling practices and the strength and scope of national CPCF regulations. The Consortium for Improving Complementary Foods in Southeast Asia (COMMIT), composed of UN agencies and civil society organizations, was formed to assess the nutrient gap in the diets of young children and the consumer, product and policy landscapes for CPCFs in seven Southeast Asian countries. Results from a nutrient gap assessment indicate that the diets of children aged 6–23 months are suboptimal and deficient in micronutrients. A consumer survey revealed that caretakers commonly use CPCFs, are conscious of the importance of nutrition and are influenced by label claims. Results from a CPCF benchmarking showed that many products sold in Southeast Asia contained added sugar or sweeteners, had a high total sugar and/or high sodium content and that no CPCF product adhered to all recommended labelling practices. Further, a legal review of national binding legal measures relevant to CPCFs showed minimal alignment with available global guidance. Urgent actions are necessary to strengthen national regulations related to CPCF nutrient composition and labelling practices. To speed progress, COMMIT developed a compendium of existing standards and global guidance to help countries align their national regulations with CPCF composition, labelling and production recommendations. Advocacy to garner public support for new or improved CPCF regulations, as well as strong government monitoring and enforcement of regulations, is crucial to support efforts to safeguard and improve the diets of older infants and young children in Southeast Asia.

Uncivil Society and Democracy's Fate in Southeast Asia: Democratic Breakdown in Thailand, Increasing Illiberalism and Ethnic Cleansing in Myanmar

Civil society scholarship has repeatedly warned of the dangers of uncivil society for young democracies. However, it remains unclear when and how uncivil society becomes an instrument of democratic backsliding. Using Thailand and Myanmar as its case studies, the article discusses the origins, ideology, and impact of several uncivil society groups, deepening our knowledge on the latter's role in democratic backsliding/breakdown. It argues that uncivil society can act as useful resource for conservative elites seeking to derail democratisation processes. Particularly in times of a perceived or manufactured national crisis, uncivil society successfully pursues illiberal agendas – often in tandem with established elites of the former regime. Also highlighted are the core mechanisms through which uncivil society leads to democratic backsliding/breakdown, as well as the long-term effects these movements have on the erosion of social trust and civility and the poisoning of inter-class or inter-religious relations.

The ‘pure polish people’ vs the ‘European elite’ – how do populism and Euroscepticism interact in Polish politics?

ABSTRACT There is a notable correlation between Eurosceptic and populist political actors, discourses and agendas across Europe. Since 2015, the ongoing conflict between Poland and the European Commission concerning the rule of law has brought European integration to the centre of Polish politics. The main focus of this article is on the relationship and interaction between populism and Euroscepticism, as analysed through the example of Polish political parties. To this end, the article investigates the different forms of EU contestation by Polish populist right-wing parties and assesses the extent to which these are expressed through populist discourse. We find a strong correlation between populist and Eurosceptic attitudes of Polish political parties. With the growing number of populist parties entering the mainstream and ‘uncivil society’ actors transforming into political parties, the anti-elitist discourse generates a need to locate the ‘corrupted elites’ outside of the national power structures.

Czech Conspiracy Websites as Agents of Illiberalism: Case study of Parliamentary Elections 2021

In the past several years, conspiracy websites emerged as relevant actors in Czech uncivil society. The article uses the lens of the concept of illiberalism to explain their ideological position, relation to the liberal democratic system and understanding of politics. The analysis of their reporting about the Czech Parliamentary elections 2021 allowed the article to uncover their allies and enemies and describe the role they want to play in Czech politics.

Transnational uncivil society networks: kleptocracy’s global fightback against liberal activism

What is the global social context for the insertion of kleptocratic elites into the putatively liberal international order? Drawing on cases from our work on Eurasia and Africa, we sketch a concept of ‘transnational uncivil society’, which we contrast to ‘transnational activist networks’. While the latter denotes the liberalizing practices of global civil society, the former suggests a specific series of clientelistic relations across borders, which open space for uncivil elites. This distinction animates a growing line of conflict in global politics. These kleptocrats eject liberal activists from their own territories and create new spaces to whitewash their own reputations and build their own transnational networks. To do so, they hire political consultants and reputation managers, engage in public philanthropy and forge new relationships with major global institutions. We show how these strategies of reputation-laundering are neither illicit nor marginal, but very much a product of the actors, institutions and markets generated by the liberal international order. We compare and contrast the scope and purpose of civil and uncivil society networks, we explore the increasing globalization of Eurasian and African elites as a concerted strategy to distance themselves from associations with their political oppression and kleptocracy in their home countries, and recast themselves as productive and respected cosmopolitans.

Ecofeminism: from the Perspective of Indian Cinema and Performing Arts

This is a hence proven fact that cinema and theatre especially performing arts connects with a larger audience while representing the core and periphery of a civilized and uncivilized society. In this very fact location of women as female protagonists is very limited and obscure. Also, the initial instances show that they were treated as supporting characters. In this paper, I will try and highlight the roles of female characters in indigenous Bollywood and some popular literature also from the perspective of Ecofeminism. To understand Whether they were visible as facilitators of nature and ecology or they were seen exercising their agency through those characters or they are just objectified for publicity stunts in commercial films. This paper will also be touching upon the new age Cinema and theatre where some critiques are observing this as a contrasting effect of the past. From the beginning of civilization, whenever men needed support for livelihood and rule, women provided their helping hand. For instance, in ancient civilizations women were seen as gatherers, those who put together resources, nurture, and take care of them. But their clutch and agency are missing, when it comes to their social, political, and cultural sphere. This basically makes them a ‘choice-based’ role player, where both choice and role are not of their interest. There are several examples in our visual art-based Cinema i.e., Bollywood. There are movies that explain generational change and continuity, along with the cognizance of watching spectators.

The Challenges of Civil Society Organisations: NGO-isation of Resistance in Malaysia?

Numerous academic studies asserted the positive contribution of Malaysian civil society organisations in national policymaking and democratisation. Nonetheless, several issues have recently posed significant challenges to civil society organisations, including NGOs. These include, for instance, reported sexual harassment incidents and controversies of purported democratic aid or funding to the NGOs. Meanwhile, the phrase “uncivil society” and the relevant definition are ambiguously applied to the existing Malaysian NGOs, as past scholarly works solely concentrated on investigating civil society. The current study aims to explore the concept of “uncivil society” in Malaysia and its relevance to the NGO-isation of resistance. Specifically, this study reviews literature on the existing concepts of civil-uncivil society, the NGO-isation of resistance, and the development of CSOs and NGOs. This study revealed different experiences of individuals, who collaborated with four different NGO types, namely human rights, women, education, and the environment. Resultantly, three main concerns regarding “uncivil society” and NGO-isation of resistance are identified. The three identified concerns, namely undemocratic work culture, the NGO establishment motive, and ineffective resistance, could occur in Malaysia.

‘Human Rights…But for the Majority’: The Appropriation and Subversion of the Human Rights Agenda by Right-Wing NGOs in Malaysia

AbstractScholarly treatments of the human rights agenda tend to posit civil society organisations (CSOs) as its defender and the state and mainstream political actors as its violators. Even when raising the problem of an ‘uncivil society’, the literature labels these CSOs as reactive and hostile to the human rights agenda they perceive as ‘Western’ and ‘foreign’. I argue that these treatments of the issue overlook another phenomenon: the emergence of CSOs that adopted the language of human rights and participated in its formal processes yet subtly redefined, subverted, and undermined the core commitments of the human rights agenda. This paper discusses such developments by referencing right-wing non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Malaysia that redefined the parameters of the human rights agenda to undercut state commitments to protect religious freedom, sexuality rights, and gender minorities. Through actor and discourse tracing, this paper illustrates how right-wing Islamist NGOs employed a novel two-pronged strategy that no longer openly repudiated the human rights agenda but continued to erode, eviscerate, and reformulate its contents and principles. The first prong involved institutional measures of ‘getting in’ to gain legitimacy by participating as a stakeholder within local and international human rights processes. The second prong encompassed social strategies of ‘pushing out’, whereby actors and their networks mobilised populist pressure to expose, ostracise, and subvert established human rights norms, institutions, and actors.

Does the EU Benefit From Increased Complexity? Capital Punishment in the Human Rights Regime

This article questions how the EU has acted to increase the complexity of the human rights regime through the process of incorporating a new issue area into its scope and to what extent has it benefitted from that process. By examining the breadth of the regime complex, between 1991–2021, this research shows how UN bodies, regional organisations, and civil society associations increasingly consider the death penalty a human rights issue instead of an exclusively domestic legal one. The article draws on a comprehensive archival review tracing the process of reframing capital punishment, the actions undertaken by the EU contributing to this process, and the benefits it receives from increased regime complexity. This leads to an affirmative answer to the previous questions, arguing that the EU’s actions in its foreign policy, anti-death penalty stance, and promotion of civil society, facilitated a reconfiguration of the human rights regime complex towards the rejection of capital punishment. It also provides important insights into the limitations of the literature on EU actorness in the UN system, which trains its eye primarily on legal representation and member-state cooperation. While this applies to formal international organisations, characterising the post-1945 multilateral order, utilising the study of regime complexity provides a more precise assessment of EU action in the fragmented and increasingly informal institutions constituting global governance today.

Cuba and Poland: an Outline of Comparative Analysis of Totalitarian Regimes

The aim of the article is to find the similarities and differences between Poland and Cuba by comparing them totalitarian regimes. The research problem consisting in determining the importance of exogenous and endogenous factors favoring the regime or disintegrate it. In this case, the method of desk research is appropriate. The comparison was made using the same and operationalized criteria (hegemony or domination of the party-state apparatus, the intensity of political gnosis, and the scope and extent political mobilization) based on Juan Linz’s modified concept of totalitarianism. At the beginning of the 1960s, in Cuba, the uncivil society had a hegemonic position. In the 21st century, its status changed from hegemonic to dominant, closely linked with the totalitarian party-state apparatus. The political regime slowly evolved from strong to weak totalitarianism. In post-war Poland, the political regime evolved from strong to weak totalitarianism, to become authoritarian after 1980 behind the façade of an inoperable party-state apparatus, and in 1989 it collapsed. In both cases, exogenous factors were of much less importance than endogenous ones.

ISLAM, (UN)CIVIL SOCIETY AND CHALLENGES FOR DEMOCRATISATION IN INDONESIA

This article tries to critically examine the idea of civil society in light of Indonesia's Islamist politics. This raises the question of how far the idea of a civil society in a democratic country leads to public civility. This is an important question that must be addressed. The Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia (MMI) is the main focus of this article. MMI, one of the most active Islamist organizations founded after the fall of the authoritarian regime of the New Order, develops political frameworks that endanger democracy and public civility. MMI became an organization that advocates for uncivil discourses of Islamic interpretation, thus representing Indonesia's (un)civil society. It is most visible in the organization's views on democracy and its interpretation of the "jihad" doctrine. As a result, the article concludes that the classification of Indonesian civil society should include both civil and (un)civil society. In addition to civil society, Indonesia should include uncivil society, even if their orientation is different. An un-civil society threatens democracy and public civility while civil society is fighting for it.

Uncivil society and social policies in Brazil: The backlash in the gender, sexual, and reproductive rights and ethnic and racial relations fields

AbstractThis paper analyzes how dynamics between Brazil's right‐wing populist government and civil and uncivil organizations affected the role of civil organizations, especially rights‐based ones, and Brazil's democratization process. These dynamics contributed to stripping policies of their progressive nature and rejecting the values of diversity, freedom, and equality. Our analysis relies on the inhabited institutions approach to comprehend the role of action, interaction, and meaning in institutionalized spaces. We analyzed two policy fields—gender, sexual, and reproductive rights, and ethnic and racial relations—through documents and in‐depth interviews. Our analysis shows that Bolsonaro's government mobilized mechanisms related to institutional changes, the replacement of actors, and their interactions to inhibit civil society organizations' influence in policy formulation and provision and strengthen the participation of uncivil groups, thereby legitimating conservative ideas and discourses, and closing civic space for NGOs with rights‐based agendas.

The normalization of far-right populism and nativist authoritarianism: discursive practices in media, journalism and the wider public sphere/s

This article postulates broadening as well as deepening the agenda for critical research on the role of discursive practices in media, journalism and the wider public sphere/s in normalization of far-right populism and nativist authoritarianism. Our argument is that, on the rise since the early 2000s and especially from the 2010s onwards, authoritarian and nativist populism has posed some very significant challenges to contemporary media and journalism. This has made necessary the calls for in-depth, critical discussions about the norms and practices of journalism as well as for the systematic analyses of the sometimes obviously active role that news and opinion discourse have played in normalizing the nativist as well as radically-nationalist and authoritarian status quo. Through a set of empirically-based studies which outline how media carry as well as normalize far-right political and other discourse and ideology, but also how they become the tool and the target of far-right politics, we show that the entanglement between far-right ideas and actions on the one hand, and media and journalism on the other, has become ever stronger as well as ever more complex. At the same time, we also point to the practices in the wider public spheres where, inter alia, the pervasive presence of alternative far-right media and uncivil society and its news sources has posed wider and indeed numerous challenges. These have become evident in the ongoing radicalization of both online/offline media and journalism and of wider public opinion and imagination wherein the normalization of undermining of values and norms of liberal democracy has become increasingly prevalent and widespread.

Making Indigenous Peoples’ Rights in Canada Visible

Although the United Nations have established mechanisms to exercise political authority and influence states’ policies and the global civil society puts pressure on their actions, indigenous peoples continue to face discrimination and violations of their rights. Canada constitutes a great example of a democratic country that is supposed to respect and protect human rights but violates the aboriginal rights extensively. The massive energy projects, Coastal GasLink pipeline, Trans Mountain pipeline and Site C dam, being developed in North and West Canada, do not respect the traditional lands and resources of the indigenous populations that live in the region and have been strongly condemned by the First Nations, the actors of the global civil society and the UN. Nonetheless, the Canadian government continues to fully support their construction. This paper aims to analyse the violations conducted against indigenous populations’ lands by the Canadian government and the reaction of the UN and global civil society, using a series of qualitative and quantitative data based on papers, analyses and reports of Institutes, Study Centers and Organizations.

Mitigating threats to academic freedom in Germany: the role of the state, universities, learned societies and China

ABSTRACT The authors probe whether or not the ecosystem of organised academia in Germany provides sufficient academic autonomy for scholars to conduct their research without fear or favour. Despite constitutional guarantees of academic freedom, academics face multiple threats from populist politicians, dubious third party funding, uncivil society, and misguided developments within German academia itself. These domestic threats are exacerbated on the international stage by the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) globalised censorship regime, dubious party-state funding from China, the weaponisation of informal Chinese social networks, and an unhealthy dependency among Western China scholars on ‘official China’. The authors reveal that the German state, universities, and learned societies have so far failed to properly identify – let alone mitigate – threats to academic freedom emanating from state and non-state agents under control of the CCP. They argue that while German parties have largely abdicated political leadership, German universities exhibit shortcomings in terms of their ethical leadership. Drawing on an in-depth analysis of a controversial statement by the Board of the German Association for Asian Studies (DGA) the authors argue that leading China scholars also seem unwilling or unable to exercise intellectual leadership. The article concludes with policy recommendations to remedy this problem.

The other civil society: digital media and grassroots illiberalism in Bulgaria

ABSTRACT The goal of the small-scale exploratory study presented in this article is to examine the digital mediation of grassroots processes unfolding within Bulgarian civil society that contribute to the strengthening of the social base and cultural influence of illiberal ideologies and citizen organisations. While ample attention has been paid to the utility of digital media in progressive movements and mobilizations, much less is known about their use by illiberal activists. The methodology comprises two case studies, each focused on a different collective actor that espouses ‘illiberal’, nationalist and intolerant views. Using the concept of ‘uncivil society’ proposed by Kopecký and Mudde ([2003]. Uncivil Society: Contentious Politics in Post-Communist Europe, London: Routledge), the paper approaches the analysis of the positions and activities of these organisations from two angles: (1) the way in which these actors appropriate discourses of ‘patriotism’ and ‘civil society’ and (2) the way they employ digital media to construct collective identities and build up support. The analysis casts light on the role digital media play – at the hands of such actors – in the rise of illiberal and ‘uncivil’ advocacy that could lead to the conquest of civil society by illiberalism and a continuing political backslide of liberal democracy.

Unpacking uncivil society: Incivility and intolerance in the 2018 Irish abortion referendum discussions on Twitter

Abstract In the era of rising populist sentiment, deep social and political polarisations, and a growing crisis of online harms, numerous scholars share concern about the impact of such uncivil populist forces on the health of liberal democracy. This article argues that we should first normatively distinguish between incivility and intolerance. We contend that the core problem of uncivil society is intolerance, not incivility. We then empirically analyse incivility and intolerance during the 2018 Irish abortion referendum and its discussions on Twitter by conducting a content analysis and qualitative textual analysis of 3,000 tweets posted between April and June 2018. The results show that despite selecting a highly emotive and polarised issue, incivility and intolerance do not dominate the Twittersphere. Furthermore, gender and political position of users were found to be associated with use of incivility and intolerance, which increased as the referendum approached.

The institutionalisation of populist political discourse and conservative uncivil society in the European Union: From the margins to the mainstream?

Abstract This article analyses the ideational features of conservative civil society groups at EU level and compares them to progressive groups. Through a frame analysis of the textual materials of these two types of organisations, I examine their reactions to the success of populist formations in several European member states and at EU level. I argue that the long-established EU ethos of fostering progressive civil society is undergoing a redefinition, which impacts their strategies. I posit that in a changing political climate, EU institutions are less interested in some of the contributions progressive civil society offers, such as its contributions to public deliberation, governance, and the legitimacy of the EU. Progressive civil society reacts to the threat of a loss of standing and attempts to retain its historical centrality, legitimacy, and access. In contrast, conservative civil society groups seek to establish themselves in a political environment previously off-limits to them.

La puesta en escena del teatro áureo. Ayer, hoy y mañana by Duncan Wheeler

Reviewed by: La puesta en escena del teatro áureo. Ayer, hoy y mañana by Duncan Wheeler Philip Allen Wheeler, Duncan. La puesta en escena del teatro áureo. Ayer, hoy y mañana. Translated by Mar Diestro-Dópido, Reichenberger, 2020. 269 pp. ISBN: 978-3-944244-91-4. Readers of the present collection of articles and chapters previously published in English will find a refreshing—and all too uncommon—compilation of recent historiography and literary theory complimented by contemporary accounts of the reception of Golden Age plays that spans nearly six centuries of the Spanish theatrical tradition. In doing so, Wheeler's contribution not only challenges and successfully dismantles many unfavorable stereotypes of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spanish plays, but also delves into a contemplation of how these works are still relevant today. Moreover, the author reiterates that the underlying themes and motives found in these works can still resonate with today's audiences if they allow for the innate plurality of possible interpretations of these masterpieces to foster a new vision of Spanish Golden Age theater and a reconsideration of the literary canon. Wheeler recounts a narrative of the evolution of Spanish theater, following a chronological timeline that he establishes in Chapter 1 by placing the reader in late sixteenth-century Seville. The chapter presents a treasure of examples of the controversies and academic debates that surrounded the popularity of the corrales there during this time. Wheeler further posits that the exoticism of the Andalusian capital as represented in the comedias facilitated the dissemination of the city's culture throughout the realm, asserting that the newly established Spanish court in Madrid created a cultural identity inspired by that of Seville and illustrates the strong interrelationship between theater and politics that he uses as a point of departure for the upcoming chapters (21). Wheeler's exploration of the evolution of representations of Baroque Spanish theater and its broader sociopolitical implications continues in Chapter 2, in which Wheeler addresses how certain interpretations of gender relations in Golden Age dramas contributed to Spain's "Black Legend" throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The assertion made is that other European countries used topics like uxoricide to perpetuate the conceptualization of Spain as a retrograde, uncivilized society. The chapter refutes this negative stereotype by demonstrating how its detractors selectively ignore the fact that the same issues are present in works like Shakespeare's Othello. Wheeler also provides textual evidence to spotlight the instances in which spousal abuse against women is condemned by authors, both in canonical and non-canonical works, whereas cases in which women murdered their husbands are not present. Chapter 3 expands on such considerations of Golden Age Spanish theater and how they have contributed to a misunderstanding of the role of these literary works during [End Page 236] Francisco Franco's dictatorship, misconceptions that were perpetuated by the theories of José Antonio Maravall, whose conceptualizations of Golden Age Spanish theater have been embraced in Spain, leading to the widely-accepted notion that "Lope y Calderón eran considerados lacayos del Estado por excelencia" (71). Wheeler uses textual evidence from Maravall's own writings (that have been echoed by subsequent scholars) to discredit these ideas, arguing that they stem from a fundamental misunderstanding of the original works. Chapter 4 uses mid-twentieth-century adaptations released outside of Spain as further evidence to counterargue the notion that Golden Age plays only resurfaced in the twentieth century as state-sponsored propaganda. The fifth chapter of the volume quickly concludes the examination of Golden Age plays during the dictatorship and focuses on how national initiatives—such as the National Theater Company—have taken strides to find a place for the early modern masterpieces in today's popular culture. Wheeler goes beyond identifying the challenges that these initiatives have presented and offers suggestions as to how to make these productions resonate better in the twenty-first century by drawing inspiration from techniques that have proven successful with recent audiences. The author reserves the most salient example of a Golden Age drama adaptation that was embraced by audiences and critics alike, both inside and outside of Spain—Pilar Miró's feature film El perro del hortelano...