State maps of the nonprofit sector: A critique (in times of autocratization)

This chapter focuses on government projects to map 'civil society.' Civil society mapping by states is operationalized through the generation of official registries (in all their forms) of civil society by government. Here, civil society mapping is explored in the current global context of democratic deficits. Are state maps-registries of nonprofit organizations-entangled in the emergent 'playbook' of autocratization? Given the concerns about democratic backsliding, now more than ever is an appropriate time to examine these state maps of the nonprofit sector, their goals and the implications their claims have on organized civil society. The chapter analyzes mapping projects with examples in Brazil, India, Mexico and Ecuador. A critical analysis shows that state mapping projects legitimize at times only certain versions of the sector, can construct state-civil society relations in certain ways and in doing so shape the nonprofit sector itself.