BREAKING DOWN DEMOCRACY: Goals, Strategies, and Methods of Modern Authoritarians Chapter 3 The Enemy Within: Civil Society at Bay Among the more surprising developments in y _ : 21st-century politics are the reversals experienced by Countries ut western Asia and : civil society, once regarded as an irresistible force in northern Africa, Ukraine and Thai- the global struggle for democracy. land, which have experienced street aceordine to Freed he World. the ability of protests and even armed conflicts, ccording to Freedom in the World, the ability o h oe Vv n| r he wron nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and other ave been led ast ayia ike: Sra civil society institutions to function without state re- path of Weste rn-style de eS strictions has suffered a pronounced decline over the that is, ‘street politics... The United past decade. The setbacks have been concentrated in States and some Western forces authoritarian states like Russia, China, Venezuela, and have been involved in the street lran. But civil society has also met with growing prob- pee : : lems in democracies—India and Indonesia among politics ") these countries, either ~ them—and in settings where democracy’s prospects stage or behind the scenes. are unclear, as with Ecuador, Hungary, and Kenya. —Xinhua, paraphrasing an editorial by MiBohua of the People’s Daily The growing offensive against civil society is in many respects a tribute to the prominent role that NGOs “In the modern world. extremism is have come to play in the political life of most coun- bein sed asa geo olitical instru tries. An active civil society is often seen as a formida- ul 8 fe a ble threat to a repressive or illiberal status quo. Civil ment and for remaking spheres of society was the linchpin in the successful popular influence. We see what tragic Cconse- revolutions in Serbia, Ukraine, and Georgia. In fact, quences the wave of so-called color civil society organizations frequently pose a greater revolutions led to...