Thread by @karlwilding

The fab @nextwavefutures has helpfully summarised the new @vdeminstitute report on the state of global democracy, which includes a fair bit about the role of civil society: justtwothings.substack.com/p/14-march-202…
TLDR: democracy is backsliding in many countries and not in great health. 1/

And in countries where democracy is getting worse, the key indicators include how civil society is treated (whether you can set up an organisation, whether civil society is consulted by government; whether people at large are getting involved in civil society) 2/

@vdeminstitute "repression of civil society organizations has worsened substantially in 44 countries over the past 10yrs, putting it at the v top of the indicators most affected by autocratization...data are evidence of the far-ranging weakening of civil society around the world"

Following on from @ProBonoEcon report on government civil society relations, the UK looks like it does relatively well on the question of whether civil society is consulted (15th out of 179 countries)...but less well on whether we have a robust civil society (33rd). 4/

The UK data for civil society is also relatively stable over the long term - though kinks in the recent trend wont surprise many. But it does give pause for thought as to how we see threats to the role of civil society in the UK - esp when compared to other countries.

You might conclude we're doing OK in the UK - and that we can lead from the position to defend civil society in other countries.
Anyway, @nextwavefutures blog is. well worth reading. The Varieties of Democracy website, report & data is here v-dem.net