This book represents a pioneering interdisciplinary effort to analyze Asian civil society under authoritarianism, a regime type that is re-appearing or deepening after several decades of increased political liberalization.
By organizing its approach into four main themes, this volume succinctly reveals the challenges facing civil society in authoritarian regimes, including: actions under political repression, transitions to democracy, uncivil society, political capture and legal control. It features in-depth analyses of a variety of Asian nations, from ‘hard’ authoritarian regimes, like China, to ‘electoral’ authoritarian regimes, like Cambodia, whilst also addressing countries experiencing democratic regression, such as the Philippines. By highlighting concrete responses and initiatives taken by civil society under authoritarianism, it advances the intellectual mandate of redefining Asia as a dynamic and interconnected formation and, moreover, as a space for the production of new theoretical insight.
Contributing to our understanding of the tensions, dynamics, and potentialities that animate state-society relations in authoritarian regimes, this will be essential reading for students and scholars of civil society, authoritarianism, and Asian politics more generally.
Introduction: Civil Society in Asia: Challenging and Navigating the Boundaries of Authoritarianism, Part 1: Actions under Political Repression, 1. A ‘Leader-Full’ Movement under Authoritarianism: Mobilization Networks in Hong Kong’s Anti-Extradition Movement, 2. The Gravitational Pull between Liberalism and Authoritarianism in Thailand’s Colour-Coded Politics: Civil Society in a Binary Star System, 3. Philippine Civil Society and Democratic Regression under Duterte: Connivance, Resistance, and Legacies of Elite Co-optation in the Context of a Weak State, 4. Authoritarian Neoliberalism and Resistance of the Anti-Nuclear Movement in Turkey, 5. Before and After Hell’s Interval: Sri Lankan Civil Society Under Near-Authoritarian Regimes, Part 2: Transitions to Democracy, 6. Relevance in a State of flux: Civil Society and Environmental Protection in Kazakhstan, 7. Challenges for Myanmar’s Civil Society: Depoliticization and Yangon’s Urban Development under the NLD Government, 8. Backsliding to Authoritarianism in Japan? State and Civil Responses to Experiences of Japanese Women Repatriated from Manchuria, Part 3: Uncivil Society, 9. North Korean Civil (and Uncivil) Society in South Korea, 10. Uncivil Society: Religious Organizations, Mobocracy and Authoritarianism in Asia, Part 4: Political Capture and Legal Control, 11. Governing the Limits of Civil Society in Cambodia and Myanmar, 12. Built on Shifting Sands: INGOs and Their Survival in China, 13. Can Mass Organizations Help Strengthen Authoritarian Power in Rural Vietnam?
