Background

Democracy and civil society are under pressure worldwide – even in established Western democracies. Populist and authoritarian actors, assisted by polarisation, political tensions and crises, are working to gain political power and dismantle democratic principles. They are undermining human and civil rights, the separation of powers, the rule of law, social cohesion and trust in fair elections. At international level, this trend is reinforced by an increasing rejection of multilateral cooperation, which massively restricts the collective ability to solve problems – for example in the fight against climate change. Democratic backsliding is therefore one of the greatest challenges of our time.

Against this backdrop, the question of what role civil society plays in the resilience of democracies has taken on a new urgency. Can the processes of democratic erosion be halted through civil society action?

Our Focus

The connection between democratic resilience and the role of civil society – as logical and obvious as it may seem on the surface – has not yet been sufficiently researched.

Further investigation is needed to systematically explore the relationship between civil society engagement and democratic resilience and to develop reliable indicators for their contribution to strengthening democracy.

In order to meet this challenge, the Maecenata Foundation wants to implement an array of projects. These are not isolated initiatives but are interconnected and build upon one another. The aim is to gain a better understanding of the phenomenon of democratic backsliding in order to identify more intelligent counter – strategies. For this task, it will be particularly important to play to our strength of interlinking research and impact.
We do not implement research projects in isolation from civil society, but rather involve development, as well as in the dissemination of findings.

Topics and Questions

We are interested in the following overarching questions:

• How are institutional and political conditions for civil society engagement changing in the context of the erosion of democratic processes?
• What development dynamics does this trigger in the civil society sector?
• In what contexts do actors succeed in defending or even strengthening democratic norms, participation, and social pluralism?

These questions are to be examined within the framework of context analyses, reaction analyses and impact analyses. In detail:

1) Institutional and Political Frameworks
How are institutional and political conditions for civil society engagement changing in the context of the erosion of democratic processes? In particular with regard to: stricter legal frameworks; repressive jurisdiction; selective law enforcement; forms of criminalisation of civil society actors; changing funding frameworks; financial cutbacks; and physical and psychological threats from anti-democratic forces.

2) Civil Society Development Dynamics
What development dynamics does the democratic erosion process trigger in the civil society sector? For example, reshaping financial structures, prompting the growth or decline of certain types of organisation, causing the emergence of new forms of civil society activity or altering the spatial, thematic or sectoral distribution of engagement.

3) Contribution to Democratic Resilience
This question shifts the focus to the transformative function of civil society action: where do actors succeed in defending or even strengthening democratic norms, participation and social pluralism? The focus of the analysis is on dimensions of impact and best practice.

From Knowledge to Impact: Working Methods and Outputs

At the Maecenata Foundation, scientific research and its translation into political communication both take place under one roof. This is how research can have an impact. The Maecenata Institute for Philanthropy and Civil Society specialises in analysing the effects of shrinking civic space and democratic backsliding with a particular focus on civic spaces. Building on its track record, a key aim of the foundation is to analyse how democracy can be strengthened and what role civil society plays in this. The Maecenata Foundation’s Tocqueville Forum communicates research insights to those actors who can apply them, through formats such as briefings, background discussions, seminars, public discussion events and through the publication of reports, articles, monitorings, studies and podcasts.

Partnerships and Support

The Maecenata Foundation invites foundations and funding organisations to support this work and make a contribution to strengthening civil society and democracy. We look forward to discussing how the ideas presented fit in with your ideas on the topic, and how we can work together to create a goal – oriented and effective collaboration.