Civil Society and Autocratisation

Dr. Bilge Yabanci holds a dual appointment at Deusto University (Spain) as an assistant professor of research funded by the Ikerbasque Foundation of the Basque Government and as a Ramón y Cajal Fellow funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation. Previously, she was a Marie Curie Global Fellow at Northwestern University (USA) and Ca' Foscari University of Venice (Italy), an Open Society Fellow in the Human Rights Cohort, and a Swedish Institute Postdoctoral Fellow. Dr. Yabanci's research focuses on social movements and the transformation of civil society and civic space under autocratization. Her previous work also explores populism, the interplay between populism, religion, and nationalism, and the role of emotions and performance in political mobilisation. In her current research program, Dr Yabanci examines social marginalisation to explore potential pathways for attitudinal and behavioural shifts towards stigmatised and vulnerable groups, including refugees and asylum seekers. Her articles have been published in leading journals such as Government and Opposition, Journal of Civil Society, Ethnopolitics, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Politics, Religion & Ideology, Southeast Europe and Black Sea Studies, Religion, State and Society, and International Spectator.

• List of IllustrationsPreface1. Civil Society's Twin TransformationPart I. Civil Society, State and Democracy 2. Civil Society as a Venue to Build and Contest Autocratisation3. Civil Society in Turkey: A Historical AnalysisPart II. Co-optation and Repression 4. Co-opted and Clientelist Networks of Heteronomous Civil Society5. Bringing Authoritarian State to Society6. Repression of Civil SocietyPart III. Contestation 7. The Phoenix Effect of Repression: A Resurgent Autonomous Civil Society8. 'Democracy must be defended': A New Civic Opposition Culture in the Making9. Civil Society Ruptured, Civil Society RevivedAppendix 1Appendix 2BibliographyNotes

Civil Society and Autocratisation challenges the notion of civil society as an inherently democratic force instead framing it as a contested space that states (authoritarian or not) actively manipulate to consolidate power. Bilge Yabancı’s research on civil society’s dual role—as both an instrument of control and a site of resistance — provides essential insights into the dynamics of power with implications that extend far beyond the case of Turkey.