To a greater extent Civil Society Organisations play a pivotal role in the removal of

authoritarian governments. Civil Society Organisations are found in different forms and at
different magnitudes regarding the action they take on authoritarian governments. Types of
Civil Society groups are from interest groups, religious groups, international organisations,
economic groups as well as clubs of different sort among others. Authoritarian governments
which are vulnerable to the threats of Civil Society Organisations include theocracies,
military rule, monarchy, autocracies, one party and personal or presidential despotism among
others. The actions of Civil Societies in such Authoritarian governments is such an evolving,
progressing and a measure of collective action within the citizens of the state. They often face
different obstacles in the process of trying to bring democracy to such governments and such
problems will be discussed within the body of the essay. However, there are also contributing
factors in the removal of authoritarian governments which include military coups, civil wars
or clashes, competitive politics, ethnical uprisings as well circumstances of death in the ruling
class.

To commence, Civil Societies have the role to ensure checks and balances in the governance
of a state. Checks and balances are in a way to ensure that governments conduct and apply
their ruling in a much responsible manner. In the process of checks and balances, thus Civil
Society Organisations promote transparency and accountability with due concern of power
politics, separation of powers and the welfare of citizens. Friedman (2003) has the view that
“Civil Society are critical in the controlling and limiting of power…” meaning that they
critical in ensuring an oversight if political power is not exercised in excess. Among the
characteristics of authoritarian governments, one can come across issues like abuse of
political office, throwing away of constitutional provisions, abuse of human entitlements
which are the rights as well as despotic rule. An example of Zimbabwe under the First
Republic which reveals such intention whereby power holders had turned to be a relatively
despotic rule. It led to the uprisings of interest groups such as “Tajamuka” and “Harsh This
Flag” which came into existence after the prolonged and unchallenged rule of Robert Mugabe
who was put on allegations regarding abductions of political activists and journalists in the
country. The interest groups as part of the Civil Society Organisations raised voices towards
regime change though they were silenced by machinery of state power which are the military,
intelligence and the police. The outcome was a military intervention in November 2017
which marked the thirty-seven years of rule by Robert Mugabe with an indirect influence of

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interest groups. In that sense one can be in a position to validate that Civil Society
Organisations are sources to the removal of Authoritarian Governments.

Civil Society Organisations also act as key informants to the political society. In that regard,
they raise awareness to the citizens under an oppressive rule. Through being key informants,
Civil Society organisations raise several awakening, touching and influencing views which
even fuel up the stability of ordinary citizens to change the way they perceive the handling of
power and consider their rule as oppressive. There is a position from Bermeo and Nord
(2000) which asserts that “…responsible governments try in every way to silence the
instability which emanates from the civil disobedience that is usually fuelled up by different
Civil Society groups”, that is why in many cases Civil Societies have been barred by
responsible governments from operating since they stir political volatility which in some
instances lead to the eventual overthrow of authoritarianism. In Oman, Civil Society consists
mostly of interest groups, non-profit making organisations within the domestic jurisdiction as
well as labour unions. They evolved from the 1970`s which was the initiation of a bitter
monarchical government under the powers assumed by Sultan Quaboos who overthrew his
father from the throne to become King of Oman. His rule consisted or was built from a
Machiavellian political thought whereby he used power and coercion in order to remain on
the throne. The late nineteenth century was the opening of civil disobedience by mobs who
demonstrated for the rule to be justified in terms of freedoms and liberties within the state and
they were silenced by state securities in most cases. Civil societies who came to the rise in
Oman used social media in order to pull up crowds over the government that existed in the
state which raised more pressure to the government with the end result of a regime change.

In-addition, Civil Society organisations create a platform for social and political participation.
This happens mostly in situations where citizens are not aware of their political rights.
Political rights target the opportunity to select a government of choice through the transparent
holding of elections within states. Schools of thought like Castells (2008:32) have the view
that “Elections are important in giving the electorate power to make decisions…it is a
problematic practice to many African countries regarding the issue of regularity, freeness and
fairness”, In cases where elections are not conducted in a much desirable manner, a state
becomes a one party system which is relative to a monarchical type of government. In
Djibouti, a Civil Society known as the “Friends of Djibouti Association” held campaigns on
the electoral processes to be taken in a professional manner through reforms and follow up of
constitutional procedures. In the 2006 elections, the civil society worked hard for a

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supportive atmosphere where there was the respect of human rights and a bit free. In the
process one can come across situations such as the governmental interception on their
processes by thwarting situations that had violent actions, the government used its military
and police to try in driving off the efforts of such groups though it did not sweep off the
efforts that had matured.

Civil Societies also act as pivots of the economy. In the case where there is abuse of power,
the economy faces a recession in the sense that some individuals take advantage of the
system and engage into corruption, some institutions of the government are prevented from
taking their duties in a more transparent way. In the ideas of Urry (1981), “… in the 19 th
century, Civil society organisations have created a forum for economic growth in the
different continents of the world while at the same time opening up the enlighten of societies”
meaning that when the citizens are informed about development they can turn back to their
leadership. Authoritarian governments in some instances are productive with also high
development. In the South Sudanian state, economic based interest groups pushed for audits
of oil rich places with respective institutions. The argument was that the endowments were
only benefiting the elites when the general population was suffering. In the respects, it
brought cooperation from a number of groups in 2014 where alarmingly many forms of civil
society groups like religious, associate accountants and political activists advocated for the
fair distribution and enjoyment of the citizen’s wealth privileges. With the magnitude of
pressure from Civil Society groups, international and regional support, facilitated talks were
conducted in Addis Ababa, Nairobi and Entebe though they failed to score recognisable
victory. The appreciation is that it managed to change some of the governmental restrictions
that ended up oppressing citizens, however, tribal activism and the state was a stumbling
block.

More so, Civil Society Organisations have the objective to ensure that Human rights are fully
observed by power holders. In most authoritarian governments there is the abandonment of
women rights as compared to others including the rights to life. Schools of thought such as
kroker (1998) have highlighted the importance of human rights and their contribution as
“interrelated means of reckoning human rights has been a push from different respective
groups of Civil Society” meaning that those who enjoy rights will always utilise the chance
they get in order to express their freedoms and liberties. Most authoritarian governments are
oppressive to women and they exist to an extent of denying them civil and political rights
such as voting and political participation in the state politics and governance processes. Of

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such authoritarian regimes one can refer to countries like the United Arab Emirates, Qatar
and Oman. Women in these states have been behind a lot of social, economic and political
development. Referring to the United Arab Emirates “UAE”, there is a group called the Abu
Dhabi Businesswoman and the UAE Women in Government and business have fought the
political, social and economic war at large in a collective nature. They fought for inequalities
between man and woman in the education sector, state economics and political
institutionalism. By 2016, the efforts brought by the Civil Society groups gave a new shift for
the United Arab Emirates political environment where young woman had the opportunity to
be found in the cabinet, some became ambassadors. By the year 2017, women had gained the
momentum and their composition in the political board had increased remarkably. In that
sense, one can be in the position to support that Civil Societies contribute to the abandoning
of authoritarianism.

However, to give a well-balanced discussion one has to include other factors and situations
that often prevail in different authoritarian governments. Military coups have even played a
recognizable role in the removal of authoritarian governments. It is an idiosyncratic situation
in the sense that some schools of thought tend to lessen or avoid to use the term military
coups and term them military interventions. There is a view by O`Brien (2016), “Military
coups d’état displace civilian regimes in the name of challenging existing governments”
meaning that the military is in some instances a threat to governments. Taking the example of
Zimbabwe, in 2017 there was an alleged military intervention which led to the fall of Robert
Mugabe who was described by many to be a presidential or personal despot. This led to the
opening up of freedoms and liberties enshrined in the 2013 constitution under Chapter 4
which outlines the Declaration of Human Rights. The period which is termed to be the second
Republic under the new dispensation has been a new step into a democratic process. What
has to be taken into account is that there has not been much change within party dominance
in Zimbabwe which seems to have been substituted with party leadership. The success of the
military intervention is such a renounced one in the sense that elections in 2018 have been
considered to be better than the previous elections which were marred by violence,
abductions and malpractices.

Civil wars have also contributed to the overthrow of authoritarian governments. Civil wars
are from ethnical differences whereby some groups assume that they are more important than
the other groups. Fearon and Latin (2003) are schools of thought which give the negativity of
civil wars towards governments as they relate to them as political and social antagonism

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whereby they end up threatening the fall of power holders and the ultimate outcome is
probable in many situations. In such instances, resource distribution becomes a problem since
some may fail to maximise utility due to poor resource distribution on the basis of
differences. The problem becomes that of genocides which are a threat to the population
growth and labour supply though in the process it becomes a push factor for regime change.
Civil wars are also common in heterogeneous ethnical groups which may tend to be clashing
over the responsibility to govern a certain territory. An example of states where a civil war
has been playing a role in the removal of authoritarian governments is from Ruanda between
the years 1990 and 1993. In the case, the Rwandan Armed Forces which represented the
government clashed with the rebel group that was called Rwandan Patriotic Front, popularly
it was a long established clash of the Hutu and Tutsi groups who made larger portions of the
population. With a deep understanding of the background to the clash, there was a politically
motivated struggle towards the governance of the state which resulted in a heart rending
genocide. In the revolution, Paul Kagame got power from Fred Rwigyema which shows that
power was taken away from the tyrannical authoritarian. One can come to the predisposition
that in the process, civil wars are elemental to the removal of authoritarian governments
though they have an indirect impact which also causes harm and dispersion of the civilian
within a state.

In some situations, death play a strong role in the removal of authoritarian regimes. It is a
natural situation whereby human beings succumb to life from different causes such as health
matters, food intoxication as well as suicides. This can be approached through scientific
studies and social problems. In the example of Hitler, he is one example of a symbolic
prominent person in the history of Germany which was by that time an authoritarian
government and opening up new government systems. With an example of Africa, In Malawi
the passing on of Kamuzu Banda paved for a transition in the government which was
preliminarily headed by Joyce Banda widow to the former.one can find out that the Rule of
Kamuzu Banda was despotic, it characterized the abuse of the constitution which was at one
time proposed to facilitate a provision for a life president. The example from Malawi shows
that there was a run away from providing political liberties and freedoms. This means it was
likely that hereditary and monarchism were nearer to their adoption in the African state.

Moreover, a favourable level political playing field where politics is of a competitive nature
help a lot in the removal of authoritarian governments. In the case, competitive political
practices are more aligned to personal or presidential despotism where certain individual hold

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tight to power without conceding it to others. To support the point, one can adopt to the ideas
of Feroz (2002) who assert that election are “elections are a majoritarian median for
conferring political mandates” which shows that in some instances they electorate can resort
to elections in order to remove authoritarian powers It is the crises of most African states
which have turned to be authoritarian due to those practices. Competitive partisan politics
also happens in one party systems where a single party cannot open for others to have control
of the state. Competitive politics is essential as it gives value to the democratization process
of state. It is a success if the electoral system is regular, free and fair and a failure in cases
where there is much of malpractices. In the case of Zimbabwe, the 2018 elections had a more
insight of competitive politics where there was a large pool of presidential candidates
consisting of 23 successful potential presidents with the intention to get one. The outcome
was the win of Zanu Pf Party which garnered more votes to fulfil the first-past-the-post
electoral expectation with a fifty-one percent magnitude. The amount and nature of coalitions
that existed during the election period helped a lot to prevent authoritarian attributes though it
was an expectation that the long stay of Zanu Pf in power was about to come towards its
ending.

In conclusion, Civil Society Organisations play a fundamental role in the removal

authoritarian governments. Civil Society groups come in different forms at different
magnitudes in the process of spearheading democracy to grow in different states. At the same
time authoritarian governments are also analysed from different descriptions through how
power is handled and exercised. One can take the view that “Civil Society Organisations and
Authoritarian Governments are discussed as sets of collective entities which need to be
separated and noted in detail.