A Red Flag for Public Goods? The Correlates of Closing Civic Space
Journal
Governance
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2024
Author(s)
Abstract
Governments increasingly restrict civil society organizations (CSOs). Different theories converge on the expectation that CSOs are important for public goods. A largely unexplored implication is that increased restrictions on CSOs will signal the under-delivery of public goods. Using data on government-imposed restrictions on CSOs for a global sample of countries, we test this implication. Controlling for unobserved cross-country heterogeneity, temporal shocks, and confounding variables, we find that the accumulation of restrictions on CSOs negatively correlate with public goods-oriented government spending and positively correlate with corruption and clientelism in the future. Our evidence also suggests that the mechanism underpinning these findings is that persistent restrictions on CSOs negatively correlate with engaged society and, to some extent, protest. While global governance actors warn of the negative consequences of restrictions on CSOs, our analyses provide evidence that restrictions are indeed a red flag for governments' failure to live up to their public goods commitment.
Abstract (De)
Governments increasingly restrict independent civil society organizations (CSOs). Different theories converge on the expectation that independent and active CSOs are important for ensuring the delivery of public goods. A joint and yet largely unexplored implication is that restrictions on the activity of CSOs will signal the under-delivery of public goods. Using original data on a wide variety of government-imposed restrictions on CSOs for a global sample of countries, we test this implication. Controlling for unobserved cross-country heterogeneity, temporal shocks, and a variety of potential confounding variables, we find that the accumulation of restrictions on CSOs negatively correlate with public goods-oriented government spending and positively correlate with corruption and clientelism in the future. Our evidence also suggests that the mechanism underpinning these findings is that persistent restrictions on CSOs negatively correlate with engaged society and, to some extent, protest. While actors central to the liberal international order, including the UN, have long warned of the negative consequences of restrictions on CSOs, our analyses provide the first systematic evidence that restrictions are indeed a red flag for governments’ failure to live up to their public goods commitment.
Language
English
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
HSG Profile Area
SEPS - Global Democratic Governance
Volume
38
Number
2
Official URL
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
269434