Around the world, governments are using a variety of approaches—ranging from controlling the media, creating onerous registration requirements, and passing restrictive legislation to cut off foreign funding, to depriving human rights activists of their nationality, detaining civil society leaders, and in some cases, engaging in targeted killing—to limit the space for civil society to operate.
The dominance of programmatic and funding models that is heavily reliant on foreign funding; the lack of legitimacy and relevance of civil society to the larger population; the absence of transnational solidarity and connectivity between civil society; and the challenge of aligning security and civic spaces have both contributed to and exacerbated the vulnerability of civil society actors to restrictive measures.
The emerging trends in the last decade suggest that more efforts by all stakeholders are much needed. To learn more, visit http://www.csis.org/icon
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