Giving Compass' Take:

• New Mandala takes a look at the state of civil society in Southeast Asia and finds many trouble developments, including the suppression of free speech and assembly.

• How can international organizations and policymakers put watchdogs in place to make sure that freedoms are restored to citizens in this region? What are the warning signs that we should look for elsewhere in the world?

• Here's how civil society acts as an immune system for democracy.

As democracy experiences a global decline, and Southeast Asia oscillates between authoritarian endurance and democratic rollback, civil society in the region is facing a bleak future.

Dictatorships and quasi-democracies are racing to curtail freedom of speech and assembly and to subject civil society organizations (CSOs) — especially those advocating structural changes and human rights — to ever-tightening regulatory requirements. Traditionally viewed with suspicion by governments, and at times even by the public, as disruptors of societal order, increasingly CSOs’ legitimacy and accountability are questioned and their role and the effectiveness of their strategies contested.

The shrinking of civic space also affects (and is affected by) the availability of resources. Across Southeast Asia, governments’ stiffened oversight is limiting access to international and national funds by CSOs, in particular when directed at financing advocacy and rights-based activities. This occurs amidst an evolving development aid landscape wherein established donor agencies reposition themselves in line with more conservative contexts back home and abroad, and where a new set of funders does not necessarily appreciate the merit of a “vibrant civil society” for democracy and development.

Read the full article about civil society in Southeast Asia by Rosalia Sciortino at New Mandala.