Projects - Democracy, Conflict, and Governance
Civic Research Network
About the Project

Carnegie’s Civic Research Network is a global group of leading experts and activists dedicated to examining the changing patterns of civic activism around the world and analyzing the implications for future international civil society support.

The Carnegie Endowment gratefully acknowledges support from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Programs

Democracy, Conflict, and Governance

The Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program is a leading source of independent policy research, writing, and outreach on global democracy, conflict, and governance. It analyzes and seeks to improve international efforts to reduce democratic backsliding, mitigate conflict and violence, overcome political polarization, promote gender equality, and advance pro-democratic uses of new technologies.

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Our team

Thomas Carothers

Harvey V. Fineberg Chair for Democracy Studies; Director, Democracy, Conflict and Governance Program

Thomas Carothers, director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program, is a leading expert on comparative democratization and international support for democracy.

Richard Youngs

Senior Fellow, Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program

Youngs is a senior fellow in the Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program, based at Carnegie Europe. He works on EU foreign policy and on issues of international democracy.

All work from Civic Research Network

37 Results
research
On the Front Lines: Women’s Mobilization for Democracy in an Era of Backsliding

Women play diverse roles in and exert major influence on popular movements against democratic erosion around the world, from Brazil to Hungary to India.

· March 21, 2024
research
Global Civil Society in a Geopolitical Age: How Great Power Competition Is Reshaping Civic Activism

Civil society actors around the world are grappling with competition between values systems. Rising geopolitical tensions affect international civil society and its role in this shifting global order.

· November 30, 2022
paper
Civil Society and the Global Pandemic: Building Back Different?

Civil society groups are simultaneously responding to the pandemic’s direct impacts and looking to a post-pandemic future. Many economic, political, and geostrategic challenges are shaping their thinking and their strategies.

  • Carnegie Civic Research Network
· September 30, 2021
research
Coronavirus as a Catalyst for Global Civil Society

The coronavirus has been a wake-up call for global civil society. It will come out of the pandemic looking very different—and this change will be a significant factor in a now highly fluid international politics.

· December 7, 2020
event
Global Civil Society and the Pandemic
May 20, 2020

Government responses to the coronavirus are disrupting civil society around the world. But the pandemic is also catalyzing new forms of civic activism. Members of Carnegie’s Civic Research Network share their insights.

  • +2
  • Thomas Carothers
  • Youssef Cherif
  • Maureen Kademaunga
  • Janjira Sombatpoonsiri
  • Vijayan MJ
article
Civil Society and the Coronavirus: Dynamism Despite Disruption

The coronavirus is catalyzing new forms of civic activism. International supporters of civil society should step up their efforts to bolster these local responses.

commentary
Lessons From Brazil’s Poor to Fight the Coronavirus

As Brazilian politicians argue over how to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, civil society organizations from the country’s slums have come together to educate and advocate for their communities. But they cannot do it alone.

  • Marisa von Bülow
· April 6, 2020
paper
New Directions for EU Civil Society Support

The EU’s assistance for civil society partners in Turkey, the Western Balkans, and Eastern Europe needs to evolve in response to the more challenging environments activists in these countries now face.

· February 18, 2020
event
Civic Research Network Meets in Taiwan
November 14, 2019

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace co-hosted a two-day workshop of its Civic Research Network in Taipei.

In the Media
What Happens When Protests Die Down?

Protests convulse global politics, but it’s what happens when they die down that can really make a difference.

· November 10, 2019
openDemocracy