Authoritarian Capture of Civic Space: How Authoritarian Regimes Infiltrate Civil Society in IOs

Civil society organizations (CSOs) are increasingly operating in a shrinking civic space. They face strict funding and registration laws and have to navigate defamation campaigns, expanded internet surveillance, and even state-sponsored violence. This assault on civil society has also extended to global governance: authoritarian regimes collud to deny access to critical non-governmental organizations (NGOs) at international organizations (IOs), instead supplanting participation rosters with state-controlled or like-mined actors; progressive CSOs see their work de-legitimized by illiberal and authoritarian actors, and human rights activists are harrased and threatened from offering testimony. While the global assault on civil society is well documented in comparative politics, we have little systematic knowledge about the extent to which authoritarian regimes undermine civic activism at IOs, and the consequences for the ability of IOs to fulfill their functions. This paper studies how authoritarian regimes use state-controlled and like-minded CSOs – captured civil society – to infiltrate IO civic space, thereby reshaping IO policy-making to their interest. The paper conceptualises strategies of authoritarian infiltration and maps the extent to which captured CSOs gain access, participate and influence IO decision-making across a range of selected IOs. It thereby advances scholarship on the informal practices of authoritarian regimes in IOs and the shrinking civic space internationally.