Description du projet
Un examen plus attentif des répressions de la société civile
Les sociétés démocratiques ont été bâties sur les libertés de rassemblement et d’association, mais la répression s’est renforcée et accélérée ces dernières années, et un nombre croissant d’États membres de l’UE ont introduit une législation qui affaiblit de manière intentionnelle ou non les organisations de la société civile (OSC). Le projet CIVILSPACE, financé par l’UE, examinera les facteurs et les répercussions de la diminution de l’espace juridique pour les OSC dans l’UE. Il étudiera l’impact des principaux défis (terrorisme intérieur, crises financières, gouvernements populistes) sur la législation relative aux OSC dans les États membres en fonction de leurs dispositions historiques à restreindre ou non la société civile. Le projet évaluera également la manière dont les autorités publiques mettent en œuvre la législation sur les OSC et dont ces dernières opèrent dans différents environnements juridiques.
Objectif
Long considered a problem of ‘third countries’, concerns about ‘shrinking civil society space’ have moved to the heart of the European Union: confronted with the challenges of domestic terrorism, financial crisis and populist government numerous member states have passed legislation constraining civil society organizations (CSOs) (e.g. EC 2018; CoE 2018; FRA 2018). Indeed, since the early 2000s, government control over and repression of civil society increased in 2/3rds of member states. This project proposes the first theoretization and comprehensive assessment of the drivers and repercussions of the ‘shrinking of legal space’ for CSOs in the EU. It asks:
How and why have EU member states altered the legal environments of CSOs over the last two decades? How do legal differences shape CSO activities central to assuring legal and political equality within organized civil society?
The theoretical framework on the drivers and organizational repercussions of ‘legally defined’ civil society space will be examined through a sophisticated, interdisciplinary, mixed-methods design. Work package 1 examines the impact on CSO law of major challenges (domestic terrorism, financial crises, populist governments) as mediated by member states’ historically grown dispositions towards or against restricting civil society. This is done through the first comprehensive statistical assessment of the changing legal restrictiveness in both framework legislation and ‘organization-specific legal regimes’ tailored to six CSO types (e.g. unions, religious, pro-immigrant CSOs) in 12 EU member states (2000-22). On that basis, Work package 2 examines in a subset of six countries through qualitative case studies how public authorities implement CSO legislation and through large-scale CSO surveys with an in-built experiment CSOs’ political engagement and their resistance against government through public contestation and legal action considering law-conforming and chilling effects of regulation.
Champ scientifique
Programme(s)
Régime de financement
ERC-COG - Consolidator GrantInstitution d’accueil
80539 Muenchen
Allemagne