Civil Society Organizations as Supporters of Authoritarian Rule? A Cross-Regional Comparison (Vietnam, Algeria, Mozambique)

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Patrick Köllner
• Subject Area: Political Science
• Term: from 2013 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 239143564

Research on authoritarianism and civil society lacks cross-regional, comparative studies critiquing the concepts of state and dominance and exploring the foundations of authoritarian state power and the ways it is preserved. Likewise, the role-diversity of civil society organizations (CSOs) is under-researched. The project explores what types of CSOs contribute to the preservation or weakening of various types of authoritarian state power, and in what ways. For a cross-regional, structurally focused comparison of three very similar cases (Vietnam, Algeria and Mozambique) we use the total number of CSOs operating in each capital city and in another large city.The basic assumption of the project is that civil society, CSOs and the state are not mutually antagonistic; rather, together they constitute a whole and are interdependent and reciprocally influential. What features CSOs develop and what the effects are of their various activities become apparent only when we take a relational perspective and analyse those relationships of dependence and influence. CSOs are polyvalent (Kössler).Such interaction and the polyvalence of CSOs will be explored in two steps:First, we will investigate in which contexts various types of CSOs develop authoritarian/authoritarianism-supportive or democratic/democracy-conducive properties, or mixtures of both in their internal structures, activities, and in their representatives worldviews. We also explore how such features are related to understandings of civil society. We will use an empirically tested typology of CSOs along with three criteria checklists. Second, we will examine whether and in what ways various types of CSOs (those delivering health services; those involved in/contributing to the formulation, decision-making and implementation of policies) help preserve or weaken the infrastructural power of the state, and in what ways various types of CSOs help strengthen or weaken the discursive power surrounding gender norms propagated by the state.Based on a comparative analysis of the data that will result from both steps, we will generate more complex hypotheses that will help establish theoretical conclusions of middle-range status regarding the interdependency of various types of CSOs and various forms of authoritarian state power.The project breaks fresh ground in terms of concepts, methodology and geography in the following ways:- The effects of CSOs activities are explored in an unbiased way; - it uses an action-centred concept of civil society and understands CSOs as a condensation of such action; - it captures cognitive-ideal foundations of civil society action and applies a reflexive and interpretative perspective; and- it is designed in an explorative way, probing causalities with qualitative methods, testing initial hypotheses, and drawing conclusions from case studies.The research project will be carried out in close cooperation with local scholars.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants