This webinar is an opportunity to bring together and discuss the practical implications of three strands of research on the balance of consent and repression that sustain social contracts in Authoritarian regimes, being conducted at Clingendael, the Freedom House, and the Institute for Integrated Transitions. Natalia Forrat (Freedom House and University of Michigan) will share two social roots of authoritarianism: union and division. It will use a case study of four Russian regions to discuss the tools that autocrats use to build their regimes from grassroots. Erwin Van Veen (Clingendael) will present 'shades of authoritarianism’ in the Middle East with a focus on the use of ideology, clientelism, and the security apparatus to maintain control in the face of mounting development needs, popular dissatisfaction, and protest. Alejandro Urrutia (Institute for Integrated Transitions) will present his ongoing research on ‘The Scope for Dialogue Between Civic and State Security Actors in Hybrid Regime Contexts' and discuss 1) the typical sources of resilience of hybrid regimes; 2) the mechanisms used by ruling parties to gain control or secure the loyalty of security forces; and 3) how civic and democratic forces can overcome common dilemmas when attempting to engage and dialogue with state security actors in such contexts. Participants to the webinar will be invited to engage directly with researchers to identify the most relevant implications for policy and practice. Register below to join us online on Tuesday, 13th June from 13:30-15:00 (BST) / 14:30-16.00 (CEST) online via Zoom. Click here to check out the Concept Note.

On Monday, 19 June 2023, the ‘Polarization in the Eastern European Neighbourhood’ trajectory will kick off with its first (online) country case session on Georgia. In established democracies, extreme ideological differences in a left to right scale between political actors is considered the definition of polarization. However, in the Eastern European region while left to right differences are generally not that pronounced, strong societal divides exist that are based on geo-political orientation (Russia or the West) embedded in the value dimensions of social conservatism and social liberalism. The war in Ukraine has put further pressure on these divides and increased the levels of polarization in the region. These strong emotions and more extreme political discourse can lead to increasing isolation of various political actors from one another, making interactions more and more destructive and less conducive to democracy. This therefore enhances the possibility of political crisis and destabilization in countries in the region and makes overcoming these divides more and more difficult. Thereby threatening both security (foreign interference, violence) and rule of law (politicization, securitization). Amy Eaglestone (researcher at the University of Birmingham) and KPSRL have initiated an event series under the Thematic Headline’s subtheme ‘Resilience to Polarization’, interrogating the specific mechanisms behind polarization in this region and discussing possible responses from the perspective of the social contract. Georgia will be the first of two country cases (the second one being Moldova), after which a roundtable will follow to inform EU-level policy and programming related to support for rule of law and democracy in the Eastern European region.  Agenda: Time Session Speaker 12:00 – 12:03 Introduction Amy Eaglestone 12:03 – 12:10 Round of introductions   12:10 – 12:20 Understanding the concept Marco Mezzera 12:20 – 12:30 Setting the scene Kornely Kakachia 12:30 – 12:35 Setting the scene Levan Tsutskiridze 12:35 - 12:45 Understanding the situation   12:45 – 12:50 Provide a framework for discussion Marco Mezzera 12:50 – 13:45 Main discussion Amy Eaglestone 13:45 – 13:50 Round up Amy Eaglestone 13:50 – 14:00 Closing  Christian Kuitert      

Background Despite their inherent domestic nature, social contracts are, in one way or another, subject to the pressure of external forces, of which interventions aimed at strengthening the said social contracts are a special category. It is undeniable that development cooperation has become a key site of SRL interventions working towards reducing inequalities. In recent years there has been however, a growing concern over the historically embedded power dynamics that underlie international development cooperation. KPAC22 has also highlighted that many programming interventions are rooted in and framed using Western values, lenses, and knowledge systems which hampers ownership and legitimacy of power in non-Western contexts and undervalue local expertise and agency, and ignores history of colonization and other oppressive interactions among states. The latter resulting  in frail and aid dependent social contracts. Within this context, there is need to explore what an Feminist Foreign Policy means in practice for SRoL programming, what effects it might have on  interventions aiming to strengthen social contracts and  what backlash supporting from the exterior a feminist perspective in a given country might cause vis a vis of both national governments and communities. On June 26th 2023, The Knowledge Platform Security & Rule of Law  will host a conversation on implications of FFP on development cooperation, with a specific emphasis on SRoL programming.  The event will discuss what distinguishes Feminist Foreign Policy from previous (similar) policies and what this policy might look like in practice for SRoL programming. It will highlight the voices of practitioners in SRoL programming and offer policy recommendations on specific adjustments needed to fully operationalize the policy.   Key questions How do we ensure that  FFP enhances women’s rights while also tackling other power relations more holistically, using a rights-based and intersectional understanding(and approach) of feminism? How can an FPP help address pre-existing power dynamics undermining meaningful SRoL programming and policy (and the development cooperation ecosystem as a whole)? How can we operationalize an FFP in the SRoL sector? What ingredients are necessary and what challenges should we be cognizant of? How can we more meaningfully involve civil society organizations (including community-based organizations, women’s groups, youth…) in developing a feminist approach to SRoL? Key discussants 1.     Dr. Jutta Joachim, Senior Lecturer at Radboud University 2.     Fridah Githuku, Executive Director of Groots Kenya 3.     Alejandra Vicente, Head of Law at Redress and member of the GQUAL Secretariat