Editors’ Note: Benjamin Soskis examines the emerging trans-ideological coalition in defense of civil society in the U.S., the commitment to “prudential pluralism” that fuels it, and the conception of history on which it stands. Part I can be read here; the full essay can be read here. IV. Besides the 2013 IRS controversy, the other … Continue reading
Editors’ Note: Benjamin Soskis examines the emerging trans-ideological coalition in defense of civil society in the U.S., the commitment to “prudential pluralism” that fuels it, and the conception of history on which it stands. The full essay can be read here. If this is a time of peril for U.S. civil society, it is also … Continue reading
Editors’ Note: Benjamin Soskis examines the emerging trans-ideological coalition in defense of civil society in the U.S., the commitment to “prudential pluralism” that fuels it, and the conception of history on which it stands. If this is a time of peril for U.S. civil society, it is also a time that has established civil society’s … Continue reading
Editors’ Note: Beth Gazley and Jennifer Alexander use an authoritarian framework to explain recent state government actions intended to restrict nonprofit activity in the US. This piece is based on a 2025 article appearing in Nonprofit Policy Forum. Unstable democracies have longstanding experience with governmental restrictions on civil society activity. Now these repressive efforts are … Continue reading
Editors’ Note: This post from Henry Farrell originally appeared on his Substack, Programmable Mutter. There are many possible stories about why American political conservatism is such an intellectual trainwreck. Here’s one. Conservatives used at least nominally to argue that it was important to protect civil society from the depredations of government, and many genuinely believed … Continue reading
Editors’ Note: Ingrid Srinath asks what can the world’s oldest democracy and the world’s most populous democracy learn from each other about the shrinking civic space each is experiencing. On March 10, 2025, CIVICUS – the global civil society alliance I once led – added the U.S. to its Civic Monitor Watchlist of countries where … Continue reading
Editors’ Note: Samantha May discusses the “undocumented and unseen violence” that can be brought on by the regulation of Muslim charities as part of the “Financial War on Terror,” based on her 2021 book, Islamic Charity: How Charity Became Seen as a Threat to National Security (Bloombsury 2021). The year 2026 will mark a quarter of … Continue reading
Editors’ Note: Merrill Sovner adapts a 2019 report she co-wrote to address a particular timely question: how informal rules can be used to constrict civil society, focused on the examples of Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Czech Republic. In the current political moment in the United States, comparisons have been made to Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, both … Continue reading
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