Marlies Glasius

The backlash against civil society in the wake of the Long War on Terror

The enthusiasm for civil society that emerged in the late 1980s and 1990s with the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the spread of democratic regimes has been replaced in recent years by a backlash against civil society on many levels and fronts. This has particularly intensified since the attacks of 11 September 2001 and the ensuing global war on terror. This article examines the causes of this backlash within the context of the ‘Long War on Terror’, describes the overt and implicit manifestations of the backlash, and reflects upon the implications for the future. It considers how the growing prominence of concerns about security and the concomitant expansion of counter-terrorist measures across the world threaten the spaces for civil society to flourish and act. It argues that while the manifestations of the backlash, such as the crackdown on NGOs in Russia and the taming of NGOs by bilateral and multilateral agencies, may appear to be disparate, unconnected phenomena, on closer inspection it is clear that they are intricately intertwined.

What is Global Justice and Who Decides?: Civil Society and Victim Responses to the International Criminal Court's First Investigations

As a new institution, the International Criminal Court needs to gain legitimacy not just with states, but also in global civil society. This article surveys current debates in civil society about whether the interests of the victims are being served and whether justice is being done, in relation to the ICC’s current investigations. It will discuss the most salient sources of debate and controversy under four headings: perceived selectivity or even bias of the Court, whether ICC investigations are detrimental to peace-building efforts, the detachment of the Court from the lived reality of local populations and victims, and the issue of compensation to victims.

The Global Civil Society Yearbook: Lessons and Insights 2001–2011

Tony Judt’s book, Ill Fares the Land (2010), and a pamphlet by Stephane Hessel entitled Indignez-Vous!, or ‘Time for Outrage’ (see Box 1.2) have been circulating among the European protestors of 2011. Both are passionate pleas for indignation against the overwhelmingly ideology of free markets and greed. Both are appeals to the young from older people close to their end — Judt knew he was dying when he wrote the book and Hessel, a hero of the French Resistance, is in his nineties. And both books are, perhaps not surprisingly, nostalgic, reinforcing Marx’s argument that when people try to change their circumstances they dress up in the clothes of the past; both yearn for a time in the post-war period, when people believed in universal welfare and in the possibility of a benign state guiding a creative market — the Social Democratic vision.

What does democracy mean? Activist views and practices in Athens, Cairo, London and Moscow

We shed light on the discontent with and the appeal of democracy by interviewing some of the most committed critical citizens: core activists in street protests. Based on interviews in Athens, Cairo, London, and Moscow, we found that they rejected representative democracy as insufficient, and believed democracy to entail having a voice and a responsibility to participate intensively in political decision-making. Activists saw themselves as engaged in prefigurative politics by fostering democratic practices within the movement and, ultimately, in society, but also raised concerns about internal power dynamics reproducing existing inequalities and exclusions. The insistence by activists that citizens have both a right and a duty to participate should be taken more seriously by political scientists and policymakers, not just as a threat to democracy and democratization, but as an opportunity. However, contemporary social movements are not straightforward sites of prefiguration, but sites of struggle between experimental and traditional forms of organizing, between inclusive aspirations and exclusive tendencies.

Does the Involvement of Global Civil Society Make International Decision-Making More Democratic? The Case of the International Criminal Court

The negotiation and contents of the Statute for an International Criminal Court (ICC) were strongly influenced by global civil society actors. After examining definitions of global civil society, this article will consider whether and why such involvement of non-governmental actors in international negotiations should be considered desirable. In particular it will assess, in the light of the ICC negotiations, to what extent global civil society democratizes international decision-making processes, considering as elements of democracy: transparency, equality and deliberation, representation and participation. While concluding that this is only very partially the case, the final section will suggest that the tortured democracy question is not the only justification for global civil society involvement in international fora. It will discuss the much overlooked and by no means unproblematic ‘ethical contribution’ of global civil society and offer a qualified defence of more international law, with more global civil society participation, on this basis.

Global Justice Meets Local Civil Society: The International Criminal Court's Investigation in the Central African Republic

As a new justice institution, the International Criminal Court (ICC) needs to gain legitimacy not just with states but also in civil society, both at the global level and in the societies in which it intervenes. This article, based on interviews, NGO documents, newspaper articles, and participatory observation, looks at civil-society relations with the ICC in relation to its most recent and least publicized investigation—that in the Central African Republic (CAR). It charts the role of civil-society organizations, local and international, in the opening of the investigation, and it discusses the initial responses to the investigation of civil-society figures and victims in the CAR. It finds that unlike in any of the other situations, the ICCs involvement in the CAR has been largely instigated by local civil-society figures and that, as a result, it operates in a quite receptive context. However, the slow pace of investigations and trials, the meager outreach to date, and the courts probable lack of capacity to provide victims with physical and material security are long-term challenges for its ability to meet local expectations of justice.

Foreign policy on human rights : its influence on Indonesia under Soeharto

This work explores economic, social and cultural rights from two perspectives, theoretical and procedural. It aims to provide a better understanding of economic, social and cultural rights, encouraging greater consistency between these and civil and political rights. The status of economic, social and cultural rights as human rights is analysed, with reference to political, philosophical and legal factors. The book also examines the supervisory mechanism of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, discussing the possibilities for its improvement. A draft Optional Protocol to the Covenant is presented on the basis of the results of the procedural analysis. The School of Human Rights Research series explores the nature and meaning of international standards in the field of human rights, their application and promotion in the national legal order, their interplay with national standards and the international supervision of such application.

Trials as Messages of Justice: What Should Be Expected of International Criminal Courts?

This article addresses the question what—if anything—we can and should expect from the practice of international criminal justice. It argues that neither retributive nor purely consequentialist, deterrence-based justifications give sufficient guidance as to what international criminal courts should aim to achieve. Instead, the legal theory of expressivism provides a more viable (but not unproblematic) guide. Contrary to other expressivist views, this article argues for the importance of the trial, not just the punishment, as a form of expressivist messaging. Specifically, we emphasize the communicative aspect of the judicial process. The final section, acknowledging the limited success of international criminal justice so far in terms of fulfilling its expressivist potential, diagnoses the main obstacles to, and opportunities for, expressivist messaging in the contemporary practice of international criminal justice.

Commentary on Keane: “Eleven theses on markets and civil society”

The first thesis appears to be that “between the years 1776 and 1848”, authors treated civil society and markets as inseparable. Keane could easily have extended this period both backwards and forwards, but really it is neither here nor there. Earlier thinkers, like Locke or Rousseau, did not distinguish between civil society and the state either, they only distinguished between civil society and the state of nature, which was in turn disputed by Adam Ferguson. Social science could not have moved beyond the Middle Ages if we weren’t allowed to change the meaning of concepts.

Research, Ethics and Risk in the Authoritarian Field

This Open Access book offers a synthetic reflection on the authors’ fieldwork experiences in seven countries within the framework of ‘Authoritarianism in a Global Age’, a major comparative research project. It responds to the demand for increased attention to methodological rigor and transparency in qualitative research, and seeks to advance and practically support field research in authoritarian contexts. Without reducing the conundrums of authoritarian field research to a simple how-to guide, the book systematically reflects and reports on the authors’ combined experiences in (i) getting access to the field, (ii) assessing risk, (iii) navigating ‘red lines’, (iv) building relations with local collaborators and respondents, (v) handling the psychological pressures on field researchers, and (vi) balancing transparency and prudence in publishing research. It offers unique insights into this particularly challenging area of field research, makes explicit how the authors handled methodological challenges and ethical dilemmas, and offers recommendations where appropriate.