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Uncivil Society

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
International Encyclopedia of Civil Society

Definition

Over the last decade the concept of uncivil society has been increasingly used to refer to a wide range of different phenomena. It is used as a shorthand to refer to all sorts of manifestations of civil society that are viewed as a threat to liberal democratic or civic values. Scholarly debates and worries about democratic backsliding and increased authoritarianism fuel attention to how certain “uncivil” acts and actors are threatening democracy and undermine a well-functioning civil society able to prevent de-democratization. The term is also used to refer to “uncivil” elements of society such as criminal and terrorist organizations, or associations with exclusionary agendas. Conversely, a few global social justice activists have adopted the term as a badge of pride, arguing that uncivil society encompasses “any group that threatens the status quo” (Kopecky and Mudde 2003, 10; also see Sullivan et al. 2010).

Introduction

Despite its popularity, the concept remains...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Conny Roggeband & Marlies Glasius

Authors
  1. Conny Roggeband
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  2. Marlies Glasius
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Conny Roggeband .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Regina A. List

  2. Hertie School of Governance, Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Helmut K. Anheier

  3. Schar school, George Mason University, ARLINGTON, VI, USA

    Stefan Toepler

Section Editor information

  1. Hamburg, Germany

    Regina A. List

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Roggeband, C., Glasius, M. (2020). Uncivil Society. In: List, R., Anheier, H., Toepler, S. (eds) International Encyclopedia of Civil Society. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99675-2_6-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99675-2_6-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-99675-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-99675-2

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