1st Edition
Authoritarianism and Civil Society in Asia
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
Anthony J. Spires and Akihiro Ogawa
Part 1: Actions under Political Repression
1. A ‘Leader-full’ Movement Under Authoritarianism: Mobilization Networks in Hong Kong’s Anti-Extradition Movement
Yan-ho Lai
2. The Gravitational Pull between Liberalism and Authoritarianism in Thailand’s Color-Coded Politics: Civil Society in a Binary-Star-System
Rawin Leelapatana
3. Philippine Civil Society and Democratic Regression under Duterte: Connivance, Resistance, and Legacies of Elite Co-optation in the Context of a Weak State
Jasmin Lorch
4. Authoritarian Neoliberalism and Resistance of the Anti-Nuclear Movement in Turkey
Pinar Demircan
5. Before and After Hell’s Interval: Sri Lankan Civil Society Under Near-Authoritarian Regimes
Udan Fernando
Part 2: Transitions to Democracy
6. Relevance in a State of flux: Civil Society and Environmental Protection in Kazakhstan
Fengshi Wu
7. A New Challenge for Myanmar’s Civil Society: Depoliticization and Yangon’s Urban Development under the NLD Government
Tamas Wells
8. Backsliding to Authoritarianism in Japan? State and Civil Responses to Experiences of Japanese Women Repatriated from Manchuria
Mayuko Itoh
Part 3: Uncivil Society
9. North Korean Civil (and Uncivil) Society in South Korea
Jay Song
10. Uncivil Society: Religious Organizations, Mobocracy and Authoritarianism in Asia
Jeff Kingston
Part 4: Political Capture and Legal Control
11. Governing the Limits of Civil Society in Cambodia and Myanmar
Melissa Curley and Stephen McCarthy
12. Built on Shifting Sands: INGOs and Their Survival in China
Anthony J. Spires
13. Can Mass Organizations Help Strengthen Authoritarian Power in Rural Vietnam?
Dang Thi Viet Phuong
Biography
Anthony J. Spires is Senior Lecturer and Deputy Director of the Centre for Contemporary Chinese Studies at The University of Melbourne, Australia.
Akihiro Ogawa is Professor of Japanese Studies at The University of Melbourne, Australia.
