Dr. Janjira Sombatpoonsiri

This article examines the interplay between nonviolent movements’ use of polarizing issues for mobilization and pro-regime countermobilization. Thailand has been chosen as an explanatory case study because it has a history of political polarization and pro-regime mass mobilization.

How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted civic space worldwide? Contrary to mainstream assumptions of “shrinking space,” analysis of five world regions in the Global South and non-OECD Europe and the Caucasus shows that civil society actors have, in fact, often still been able to sustain civic space.

How COVID-related measures have changed the civil society space is illustrated in this infographic. The trend analysis was produced as part of the project "Context Matters - Country-Specific Politico-Economic Analyses, Conflict and Crisis Potentials, as well as Global and Regional Trends", funded by BMZ.