ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that civil society organizations (CSOs) around the world are increasingly exposed to restrictive environments that affect their space for activity and manoeuvre. This is particularly the case when regimes are severely affected by fundamental challenges and crises such as international terrorism, financial crises, or populism – problems that also concern consolidated democracies. To develop this line of argument, the chapter starts with a discussion of the relationship between civil society, democracy, and the state as presented in existing research. It then provides a mapping of legal restrictions adopted in Europe in response to the five challenges of international terrorism, the EU financial crises, populist parties in government (or, more specifically, the “rule of law crisis”), the EU migration crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic. This suggests that despite the very different nature of these crises, European governments’ have adopted legal measures that affect civil society spaces in a similar fashion. The chapter concludes with a discussion of resilience and resistance strategies adopted by CSOs in response to these developments.
