Goals, Mechanisms, and Consequences of the Capture of Civil Society

Abstract

One of the primary indicators of a strong democracy is a robust civil society. In the 1990s, with the support of mature liberal democracies, national democratic forces in some countries of the former communist bloc managed to create fairly influential independent media, non-governmental organizations, political opposition, and private business. However, in the subsequent decades, the wave of democratization was replaced by a wave of criminalization, and the new democracies found themselves under attack from parties and informal groups of people who used free and fair elections to seize and usurp state power, subsequently capturing the entire state apparatus. National civil societies proved to be one of the most serious obstacles for them, which is why the suppression of independent media, the adoption of measures aimed at restricting the activities of NGOs, bans on opposition political activity, and the granting of privileges to loyal private businesses, as well as mutual support between dictators, have become characteristic features of modern post-communist authoritarianism. Having lost support from national governments, and with artificial restrictions imposed by them on the interaction of national civil society with international democratic institutions, modern media, NGOs, and the political opposition increasingly have to operate in an ever-narrower legal and political space. Authoritarian authorities seek to penetrate inside civil society and alter its essence by introducing or counterposing it with their own proxies. These are media, NGOs, and the so-called systemic opposition that are dependent on the ruling clique. Financial subversion of this kind of fake civil organizations is carried out using the state budget, through various kinds of social programs, cultural events, and tenders won by politically loyal companies. Corruption schemes, therefore, become an integral part of the interaction between the authoritarian government and civil society - some media and NGOs are suppressed, while others receive support. This inevitably leads to another problem: polarization in society. It is difficult for modern authoritarian leaders to maintain power without support from a loyal bureaucracy in central and local government bodies, without corrupt politicians, representatives of the criminal community, and propagandists who discredit democratic values and international democratic institutions, and without demonstrations of public support through the use of a loyal bureaucracy and civil activists working for the authorities. Thus, the capture of civil society is one of the primary strategic goals in the process of dismantling democracy and establishing authoritarianism. To this end, the political group that has usurped state power and captured the state systematically and purposefully undermines the civic oversight functions of local non-governmental organizations and the media, while also destroying free thought and autonomy within the country's universities. While the capture of state power and the state apparatus involves the unlawful influence of specific group interests over state policy, the capture of civil society signifies the attempts of authoritarianism to suppress the processes of checks and balances by destroying the system of its accountability to the people. The group of people that has seized power implements legal regulation and ideological subversion, creates an atmosphere of impunity, and directs financial and material resources toward the destruction of civil society. To achieve this, various capture mechanisms are used - financial, administrative, or legal pressure - which lead to the paralysis of civil organizations' work. The systematic and purposeful nature of the authoritarian regime's subversive work can lead to irreversible processes or, at the very least, seriously complicate society's liberation from dictatorship, especially when civil society itself becomes completely paralyzed, and the people resign themselves to the current situation. Breaking such a system from within, without help from the international democratic community, proves to be extremely difficult or even impossible. The authoritarian regime understands this well and therefore pays special attention to discrediting international democratic institutions, appealing to ideas of sovereignty, non-interference in internal affairs, foreign influence agencies, or a "global party of war." In this unequal struggle, it is crucial to prevent the complete capture or destruction of civil society, as it remains the only source that explains to society the true nature of an anti-democratic regime. A combination of internal resistance and international pressure on the usurpers of power always stands a chance of success, as stable dictatorships can collapse in short periods due to a sudden discharge of accumulated tension within society.