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In this introductory essay to the special issue on civil society in authoritarian and hybrid regimes, we review core themes in the growing literature on shrinking or closing space for civil society. We discuss the role of civil society organizations (CSOs) as agents of democratization and note the emergence of dual, at times apparently conflicting policy postures within authoritarian regimes (restriction and repression for some CSOs vs. financial support and opportunities for collaboration for others). We posit that different conceptual perspectives applied to civil society can help account for the duality of authoritarian postures and examine repercussions for three key subgroups of CSOs: claims-making (or advocacy) NGOs, nonprofit service providers and regime-loyal NGOs supporting often populist and nationalist discourses.

Growing efforts to shrink civil societies’ scope of action are evident around the globe. Germany’s civil society has not been fully immune from this, but analysing whether there is a shrinking civic space requires a twofold perspective. While having a high democratic state standard and a rather supportive environment, there is also a discourse of whether it is legitimate for civil society organisations (CSO) to be politically active, following controversial recent lawsuits against CSOs on that ground. Additionally, there is an increasing atmosphere of hate and demonization from some social groups against civil society activists that impede their work and scope of action. Accordingly, there is an ongoing discussion whether Germany’s civil society is affected by the shrinking space phenomenon or not. To capture and theoretically comprehend these processes in Germany, I argue that these signs of “shrinking spaces” should rather be understood as a contestation that is the outcome of a growing re-politicization of civil society in the last 15 years. It is rooted in a new wave of politicization in which democracy is no longer an undisputed paradigm. Against this background, over the last decade, civil society has become again a terrain of contestation where different views and options are expressed and collide, but that is also attacked from the outside. Two main changes, I argue, have driven forward the politicization of civil society: first, a new social cleavage that is exploited by (right-wing) populism and, second, the claim for more direct participation in the democratic systems by the citizens which produced new political opportunity structures of good governance that allow more CSOs to advocate. While this process emancipated many CSOs, it also brought forth different contestations about legitimate participation. In this way, one can simultaneously observe a shrinking and a growing space for civil society in Germany.

Social conflicts stemming from industrial mining projects in Peru have increasingly been fought in court cases in recent years. This article analyzes the dark side of this judicialization of mining conflicts, a process through which state authorities criminalize participation in social protests and attempt to prevent the mobilization of social movements. This use of the law by public authorities is an example of the so-called shrinking space in which the scope of action of civil society actors is increasingly restricted and constrained worldwide. This article presents an in-depth analysis of a specific court case against a group of mining opponents in the Cajamarca region of Peru. Based on ethnographic field research conducted in Peru, the article discusses three different modalities of the law’s domination, exploring the various ways the law rules those who oppose large-scale extractive projects. En los últimos años los conflictos sociales provocados por los proyectos mineros industriales en Perú se han judicializado cada vez más. Este artículo analiza el lado oscuro de la judicialización de estos conflictos mineros, un proceso a través del cual las autoridades estatales criminalizan la participación en las protestas sociales e intentan impedir la movilización de la gente que se opone a la minería industrial. Este uso de la ley por parte de las autoridades es un ejemplo del llamado espacio reducido en el que el campo de acción de los actores de la sociedad civil está cada vez más restringido y limitado en todo el mundo. Este trabajo presenta un análisis profundo de un caso judicial específico contra un grupo de opositores a la minería en la región de Cajamarca. Basándose en una investigación de campo etnográfica realizada sobe el terreno, el artículo analiza tres modalidades diferentes de dominio de la ley, explorando las diversas formas en las que esta gobierna a quienes se oponen a los proyectos extractivos a gran escala.

In this introductory essay for the special issue on contested spaces in liberal democracies, we review how and to what extent the closing or shrinking space debate that has influenced the civil society discourse in authoritarian contexts presents an appropriate mode of analysis for similar, disconcerting developments that have been observed in liberal democracies. In particular, recent changes in Germany, Austria, Israel, and Greece are covered in this issue. We suggest that while shrinking space mechanisms are observable, civil society is nevertheless experiencing new activism and growth. In contrast to authoritarian regimes, spaces in liberal democracies are increasingly contested reflecting both a politization of issues that nonprofits, NGOs or CSOs are working on, such as migration and climate change, but also a new civic agency that expands the political dimensions of civil society, embracing its more political functions beyond traditional service delivery.

This article discusses the phenomenon of shrinking space for civil society organizations in Poland, a Member States of the European Union and Council of Europe. It describes the tools used by Polish public authorities to restrict the operational capacity of civil society and compares these tools with the applicable constitutional and human rights standards. The article’s summary presents recommendations concerning the methods of addressing this phenomenon in Poland, which are capable of being applied in a broader context of other countries of Central and Eastern Europe. human rights, ECHR, shrinking space, civil society

This study examines the phenomenon of ‘shrinking domesticities’ in Norton, Zimbabwe, focusing on the impact of informal home-based entrepreneurship on living spaces. It argues that these enterprises diminish domestic space in some residential neighbourhoods in the town. Through data gathered from ethnographic interviews and observations, the research explores the transformation of urban livelihoods in Norton because of industrial decline. It reveals that entrepreneurs repurpose domestic spaces into workspaces in already overcrowded areas, exacerbating the town’s housing shortage. The study illustrates that while the phenomenon of shrinking domesticities has primarily been linked to the planned reduction of house sizes in Western cities, it manifests differently in Norton. Here, entrepreneurs engage in economic activities within their homes, influencing both interior and exterior spaces. This research identifies and addresses a significant gap in urban housing scholarship about African cities. Although the concept has been widely investigated in Western contexts, this paper applies it within the African context, where it arises primarily as an unplanned grassroots response to socioeconomic challenges rather than as policy initiatives. Additionally, there exists a shortage of academic literature connecting informal businesses to housing in the region, and how their interplay leads to the reduction of domestic space.

The paper analyzes changing civic spaces in Austrian civil society. Different levels of authoritarian politics in different phases of the last 8 years – the recent phase intertwined with the Covid-19 crisis – are analysed in terms of their impact on civil society frameworks. Empirically, the paper draws on three studies completed in 2014, 2019 and 2021. The results shed light on the complex interplay between civil society and the government. Specifically, they show the steps towards authoritarian governing of early state autocrats related to civil society, in particular the often-unspectacular elements that together form a clear pattern of civil society capture and changing civic spaces. Further, they show both the vulnerability of civil society regarding framework conditions – e.g. posed by the pandemic – and politics but also its strategies of resilience.

Urban shrinkage is a significant challenge to sustainable urban development. To date, the existing research has yet to analyze urban shrinkage at a fine-scale level. This study addresses this gap by employing nighttime light (NTL) data, which, due to its strong correlation with human activity and high spatial–temporal resolution, offers a robust approach for micro-scale population estimation. This paper aims to explore the characteristics and formation mechanisms of urban shrinkage spaces in Guangzhou, using NTL data and applying ordinary least squares (OLS) and geographically weighted regression (GWR) models. The correlational analysis reveals a marked improvement in model fit with GWR (R2 = 0.91) compared with OLS (R2 = 0.63), confirming the predictive power of NTL-based GWR for population mapping and the spatial delineation of urban shrinkage. We demonstrate that urban shrinkage spaces in Guangzhou are predominantly distributed in the outer suburbs, while urban growth is concentrated within the urban core area and inner suburbs. The formation of urban shrinkage in Liwan District examined as a case study, is primarily influenced by market factors, government actions, and regulatory constraints—a constellation of factors likely generalizable with other contexts of urban shrinkage. A comprehensive understanding of urban shrinkage at a fine-scale level is imperative for policy makers to optimize urban land use planning and mitigate the factors contributing to shrinkage space, thereby promoting sustainable urban development.

Existing research shows that the activity of independent civil society organizations (CSOs) is an important ingredient of democratization and democratic consolidation. Yet, what happens when governments impose restrictions on CSO activity? This manuscript investigates how restrictions on CSOs affect the quality of horizontal accountability institutions like parliaments and courts. CSOs monitor and mobilize against violations of democratic norms. Thus, if governments impose restrictions on CSO activity, they may face fewer barriers (i.e., less scrutiny and criticism) to dismantling horizontal checks and balances. In addition, when restrictions prevent CSOs from supporting horizontal accountability institutions (e.g., with monitoring and expertise), the latter’s ability to control and constrain governments likely declines. Our large- N cross-country analysis supports this argument, suggesting that the imposition of restrictions on CSOs diminishes the quality of horizontal accountability institutions. We examine alternative explanations (i.e., prior autocratization trends and the authoritarian nature of governments) and offer qualitative evidence from Kenya and Turkey to illustrate the expected causal pathways. Our results imply that a crackdown on CSOs serves as a warning sign of deteriorating horizontal oversight.

In this paper, we present an approach for simultaneous identification of the system parameters and the input dynamic force time history. The inverse problem associated with the system identification is formulated as an optimization problem and is solved using a newly developed dynamic hybrid adaptive firefly algorithm (DHAFA). A modified version of Tikhonov regularization is employed while solving the inverse problem associated with the force identification in order to improve the quality of the solution. Numerical simulation studies have been carried out by solving three distinct numerical examples. Studies presented in this paper indicate that the proposed algorithm is effective in identifying the system parameters as well as the input dynamic force simultaneously and can be effectively used for structural health monitoring purposes. Convergence studies presented in this paper on the newly developed dynamic hybrid firefly algorithm indicate that the proposed algorithm has better convergence characteristics and can be effectively employed for solving complex nonlinear optimization problems associated with system identification.