The Beating Heart of Democracy

What are the current conditions for the work of civil society in Central Europe? And what are the reasons for concerns about the fate of non-governmental organisations? What has the digital era done to civil society? And what does the new generation bring?

These and many other questions are answered in the set of studies by Central-European experts in the Civil Society Renewal recently published by the Res Publica Foundation and Visegrad/Insight. This platform is no longer a mere site to read quality commentaries and analyses. It has evolved into a genuine think tank, a generator of ideas, careful considerations and premeditated scenarios about Central Europe in a wider global context.

Factors of renewal

After three decades of its functioning in a democracy, the “spell-broken” civil society in Central Europe has found itself in the need of contemplating its next direction. There are several reasons for this: political regimes, mainly in Hungary and Poland, have turned NGOs into their enemies. They keep finding various ways to complicate NGOs’ lives, and they attack other pillars of open society – political freedoms, independent media, and minority rights.

Hungary, obviously, serves as the best telling example here. Orban’s regime intensively tests how far it can go in limiting and stigmatising independent institutions. The situation is not very favourable in other Visegrad countries either.