In the last several years, democracy indices have recorded that many EU governments have narrowed civic space. Authorities have used a wide range of tools to constrict the space for dissent and contestation; some of their tactics are blunt, others are more subtle. European civil society has begun to respond to the assault on civic freedoms. The article implicates that CSOs across Europe employ three new types of strategies: wider coalitions to defend against government repression; cooperation at the European level; ad hoc forms of grassroots activism. The article concludes that CSOs must deepen mutual cooperation, overcome fragmentation, formulate far more effective pan-European strategies and proposals, and better harness the energy of grassroots forms of mobilization. Read more here.
Source: Carnegie Europe