Cicle “Què passa al món?”: ‘The Global Clampdown on Civil Society. From Russia to Egypt; from Venezuela to Hungary, and beyond.’

From Russia to Egypt, from Venezuela to Hungary, governments across the World are growing increasingly suspicious of the autonomy of civil society and its organizations, and exerting more and more pressure on groups and individuals that dare to vocally criticize them. Once seen as one of the pillars that could consolidate democracy, the legitimacy of non-governmental organizations is questioned, their international links and support strongly criticized when not criminalized, and their operation jeopardized by legislative and administrative means. This phenomenon is often read in the context of national partisan disagreements, and its transnational, systemic dimension is not sufficiently understood by politicians, journalists and, most importantly, by civic activists who are being pushed out of the public and political spheres.

CIDOB and the Open Society Initiative for Europe are organizing a dialogue between Tom Carothers, Vice President for Studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Jordi Vaquer, Director of the Open Society Initiative for Europe and CIDOB Associate Senior Researcher to talk about this issue.

Working language: English with no simultaneous translation.