Civil Society in Capitalism's Semi-Periphery: Reactionary to Progressive Varieties

Cihan Tugal, University of California, Berkeley

Civic activity has been essential to the longest-lasting electoral far-right regimes of the 21st century. Turkey’s AKP, Israel’s Likud, and India’s BJP have led a panoply of civil, mass, and paramilitary organizations to thoroughly transform society and state. How transposable are their strategies? Why has the electoral and civic far right not achieved the same level of prominence elsewhere? As importantly, what were the achievements and limits of left-wing and centrist civil societies before and under these three regimes? Can their failures to prevent or help replace far-right rule enlighten us about the prospects of civic activity in the rest of the world?

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 68. Presidential Session. Civil Society in the Global South