Bilge Yabanci – författare

While authoritarianism continues to gain ground globally, this book offers a global and nuanced perspective into how, when, and where autocratisation may be contested and sometimes reversed. Drawing on rich case studies from across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Southeastern Europe, the chapters in this book map the actors and institutions of resistance, ranging from political parties and bureaucrats to social movements and transnational alliances. Rather than offering a binary view of success or failure of opposition and resistance, this book adopts a dynamic, process-driven approach, considering the conditions under which resistance emerges, adapts, and persists even in shrinking civic and political spaces.Whether through informal bureaucratic defiance, legal mobilisation, elite rivalries, transnational alliances, strategic litigation, or protest coalitions, these strategies reveal the agency of opposition actors navigating complex and often hostile terrains. These diverse experiences force us to rethink resistance as an ongoing, collective effort rather than a single moment of reversal.This volume spans multiple disciplines, including political science, sociology, international relations, and legal studies, making it essential reading for students, scholars, and policymakers to understand how resistance emerges, evolves, and endures in the face of authoritarian resurgence.The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Third World Quarterly.

This book fills a significant gap in the extensive literature on autocratisation by offering theorisation of authoritarian institutional landscapes beyond partisan and formal institutions in light of novel empirical evidence. Focusing on Turkey, one of the most cited contemporary cases of autocratisation, this book documents the multifaceted transformation of civil society through the parallel mechanisms of cooptation, repression and contestation. Despite incessant attempts at taming through repression and controlling through cooptation, 'tactful contention' a blend of vigorous advocacy, non-violent protests, occupations, campaigns, digital activism, and democratic innovations is non-negligible within civil society. This book offers a profound understanding of civil society's role as both a target and catalyst in autocratisation, essential for anyone interested in contemporary authoritarian trends and democratic resilience.