Civil Society in Germany Under Threat

Civil society institutions are under pressure – also in Germany. This chapter examines the various threats that civil organizations may face in Germany when they are active in the fields of anti-racism work and democratic participation. While the academic debate on shrinking spaces so far has mostly focused on state restrictions on civil society’s scope for action, non-state actors similarly threaten civil society’s scope for action. The findings illustrate how concrete experiences of violence, such as physical attacks, defamation, and hate speech in social media, as well as diffuse threat perceptions are part of everyday work. Threat situations lead to high psychological and emotional stress for project staff, impair their organizations’ work, and bind often already scarce financial and time resources. Consequently, such threats have the potential to sustainably reduce democratic engagement, which may result in a negative impact on democratic culture and social cohesion for the country, if civil society organizations are not supported via better legal protection, psycho-social counseling, and enhanced physical security in their daily work.