Civil Society Organizations as Supporters of Authoritarian Rule? A Cross-Regional Comparison (Vietnam, Algeria, Mozambique)

对威权主义和公民社会的研究缺乏跨区域的比较研究，批评国家和统治的概念，探索威权国家权力的基础和维护的方式。同样，对民间社会组织的作用多样性也研究不足。该项目探讨了什么类型的民间社会组织有助于维护或削弱各种类型的专制国家权力，以及以何种方式。为了对三个非常相似的案例（越南、阿尔及利亚和莫桑比克）进行跨区域、结构性的比较，我们使用了在每个首都和另一个大城市开展活动的公民社会组织的总数。该项目的基本假设是，公民社会、公民社会组织和国家不是相互对立的，而是共同构成一个整体，相互依存，相互影响。只有当我们从关系的角度分析这些依赖和影响的关系时，民间社会组织的特点和各种活动的效果才变得明显。CSO是多价的（Kössler）。这种互动和CSO的多价性将通过两个步骤来探讨：首先，我们将调查在何种背景下，不同类型的CSO在其内部结构、活动和代表的世界观中发展出支持威权主义/威权主义的属性或民主/民主有益的属性，或两者的混合物。我们还探讨了这些功能是如何与民间社会的理解。我们将使用一个经过经验检验的民间社会组织类型学，沿着三个标准清单。 第二，我们将研究各种类型的民间社会组织是否以及以何种方式（提供保健服务者;参与/促进政策的制定、决策和执行的人）有助于维护或削弱国家的基础设施权力，以及各种类型的公民社会组织以何种方式帮助加强或削弱国家宣传的性别规范的话语权。通过分析这两个步骤的结果，我们将产生更复杂的假设，这些假设将有助于建立关于各种类型的公民社会组织和各种形式的威权国家权力相互依赖的中间状态的理论结论。该项目在概念、方法和地理方面以以下方式开辟了新的领域： 以公正的方式探讨民间社会组织活动的影响; 它采用以行动为中心的民间社会概念，并将民间社会组织理解为这种行动的浓缩; 它抓住了公民社会行动的认知理想基础，并采用了反思和解释的视角; 是项研究以探索性的方式设计，以质的方法探讨因果关系，测试初步假设，并从个案研究中得出结论。研究计划将与本地学者紧密合作进行。

Research on authoritarianism and civil society lacks cross-regional, comparative studies critiquing the concepts of state and dominance and exploring the foundations of authoritarian state power and the ways it is preserved. Likewise, the role-diversity of civil society organizations (CSOs) is under-researched. The project explores what types of CSOs contribute to the preservation or weakening of various types of authoritarian state power, and in what ways. For a cross-regional, structurally focused comparison of three very similar cases (Vietnam, Algeria and Mozambique) we use the total number of CSOs operating in each capital city and in another large city.The basic assumption of the project is that civil society, CSOs and the state are not mutually antagonistic; rather, together they constitute a whole and are interdependent and reciprocally influential. What features CSOs develop and what the effects are of their various activities become apparent only when we take a relational perspective and analyse those relationships of dependence and influence. CSOs are polyvalent (Kössler).Such interaction and the polyvalence of CSOs will be explored in two steps:First, we will investigate in which contexts various types of CSOs develop authoritarian/authoritarianism-supportive or democratic/democracy-conducive properties, or mixtures of both in their internal structures, activities, and in their representatives worldviews. We also explore how such features are related to understandings of civil society. We will use an empirically tested typology of CSOs along with three criteria checklists. Second, we will examine whether and in what ways various types of CSOs (those delivering health services; those involved in/contributing to the formulation, decision-making and implementation of policies) help preserve or weaken the infrastructural power of the state, and in what ways various types of CSOs help strengthen or weaken the discursive power surrounding gender norms propagated by the state.Based on a comparative analysis of the data that will result from both steps, we will generate more complex hypotheses that will help establish theoretical conclusions of middle-range status regarding the interdependency of various types of CSOs and various forms of authoritarian state power.The project breaks fresh ground in terms of concepts, methodology and geography in the following ways:- The effects of CSOs activities are explored in an unbiased way; - it uses an action-centred concept of civil society and understands CSOs as a condensation of such action; - it captures cognitive-ideal foundations of civil society action and applies a reflexive and interpretative perspective; and- it is designed in an explorative way, probing causalities with qualitative methods, testing initial hypotheses, and drawing conclusions from case studies.The research project will be carried out in close cooperation with local scholars.