Civil Societies, Uncivil States: Exploring the Causes and Consequences of Using "Lawfare" to Repress NGOs

ÔÇ¿Talk abstract:ÔÇ¿
Recent decades have seen increasing government crackdown on civil society organizations, particularly through the use of “lawfare.” Why are governments increasingly turning to the use of lawfare as a means of repression? How can the use of these anti-NGO laws or anti-civic space laws help us predict future levels of violence and human rights repression? Professor Chaudhry will illustrate how legalized repression lets governments maintain a democratic facade and allows an illusion of civic pluralism, while simultaneously providing a new strategy to control opposing voices. She will discuss the conditions under which states are more likely to use such a strategy and show how crackdown using lawfare can act as an early warning signal for worsening repression and human rights abuses in the future.ÔÇ¿ÔÇ¿

Bio:ÔÇ¿
Suparna Chaudhry is an Assistant Professor in the Department of International Affairs at Lewis & Clark College and an Affiliated Scholar with the International Justice Lab at the College of William & Mary. Previously, she was a Post-Doctoral Fellow in U.S. Foreign Policy and International Security at Dartmouth College. Her research and teaching interests include international law, human rights and international organizations. In 2018, Chaudhry received the American Political Science Association’s (APSA) Human Rights Section's award for Best Dissertation, as well as the International Studies Association's (ISA) Best Human Rights Paper Award. Her work has been published in International Organization, Journal of Peace Research, Journal of Human Rights, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Global Policy, as well as The Washington Post. She received her Ph.D. from Yale University's Department of Political Science, M.A. in International Relations from the University of Chicago, and a B.A. in History (Honors) from St. Stephen's College, University of Delhi.

Sponsored by the Department of Government & Legal Studies with support from the John C. Donovan Lecture Fund. Free and open to the public.

File Attachments: Chaudhry_poster_042523