Abstract Recent decades have seen a major political shift in many nations, manifested in democratic regression, rise of populist non-liberal democracies, resurgence of extreme right, infractions against democratic watchdogs, and increasing nationalism and unilateralism. A central manifestation of this process is the active encroachment by governments on civil society, and particularly on its liberal elements. These manifestations allegedly emanate from resistance to the liberal world order and to threats from pressures imported by national NGOs, and are made possible by changing political opportunity structures. We explore the case of Israel, through an analysis of the New Israel Fund (NIF), as a particular yet demonstrative example of these dynamics. The manifestations of civil society encroachment in Israel include concerted and coordinated actions meant to weaken and delegitimize left-wing civil society actors and their supporters and donors, by Israel’s right-wing governments and their NGO allies, through legislation and rhetorical assaults; attempts to curb international funding of human rights organizations; and differential treatment of civil society organizations according to political stance. Interviews with former and current leaders of the NIF show that the attacks have galvanized liberal civil society actors to counteract, and drove them from passive response to active and strategic engagement, professionalization of media work and program evaluation, adjustment of public relations and legal strategies, and even adjustment of programmatic choice, shifting focus to supporting the infrastructure of civil society and democracy. The discussion stresses pressures by international illiberal forces, alongside the backlash to liberal world society, as causes for encroachment, and highlights the less explored reactions of civil society actors to such encroachment.

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公民社会在非自由民主国家的侵蚀和反应：以色列和新以色列基金的案例

摘要 近几十年来，许多国家发生了重大的政治转变，表现为民主倒退、民粹主义非自由民主国家崛起、极右翼卷土重来、违反民主监督机构以及民族主义和单边主义抬头。这一过程的核心表现是政府对公民社会的积极执法，特别是对其自由主义元素的执法。据称，这些表现源于对自由世界秩序的抵抗以及来自国家非政府组织输入的压力的威胁，并通过改变政治机会结构而成为可能。我们通过对新以色列基金 (NIF) 的分析来探索以色列的案例，将其作为这些动态的一个特殊但具有示范性的例子。以色列民间社会执法的表现形式包括以色列右翼政府及其非政府组织盟友通过立法和口头攻击，采取协调一致的行动，旨在削弱左翼民间社会行为者及其支持者和捐助者的合法性；试图遏制对人权组织的国际资助；以及根据政治立场区别对待民间社会组织。对 NIF 前任和现任领导人的采访表明，这些袭击激发了自由的民间社会行动者进行反击，并促使他们从被动反应转变为主动和战略性参与、媒体工作和项目评估的专业化、公共关系和法律战略的调整，甚至调整程序选择，将重点转移到支持民间社会和民主的基础设施上。强调国际非自由势力的压力以及对自由世界社会的强烈反对是侵犯的原因，并强调了公民社会行动者对这种侵犯的反应较少。