Turning Defenders into Defendants: The Use of Lawfare against Environmental Activists in Southeast Asia

Author:   Agung Wardana (Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia)
Publisher:   Cambridge University Press
ISBN:  

9781009676649


Pages:   238
Publication Date:   08 January 2026
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Our Price $271.69 Quantity:  
Add to Cart

Share |

Turning Defenders into Defendants: The Use of Lawfare against Environmental Activists in Southeast Asia


Overview

This book documents the mobilisation of law to retaliate against, intimidate, and even punish environmental defenders in Southeast Asia. It draws on case studies from Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines, which have taken measures to provide legal protection to environmental defenders by adopting anti-SLAPP provisions. Despite these provisions, attacks utilising legal means against environmental defenders have persisted. Environmental activists and local communities defending their livelihoods and the environment against the encroachment of extractive industries and state-backed development projects are turned into defendants before the courts. The book explains 1) the nature of legal attacks on environmental defenders in Southeast Asia, 2) the consequences of these attacks on environmental movements in those countries, and 3) the responses of environmental movements in navigating the existing politico-legal structures to resist these attacks and their strategies to strengthen the protection of environmental defenders in the region.

Full Product Details

Author:   Agung Wardana (Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia)
Publisher:   Cambridge University Press
Imprint:   Cambridge University Press
Weight:   0.501kg
ISBN:  

9781009676649


ISBN 10:   1009676644
Pages:   238
Publication Date:   08 January 2026
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Introduction; Part I. Conceiving Law as Weapon: 1. Lawfare in environmental conflicts; Part II. Country Studies in Contexts: 2. Environmental politics and defenders' struggles; 3. Anti-SLAPP in environmental law; Part III. Strategic Dimensions of HEL: 4. Geographies and weaponry of lawfare; 5. Externalities of lawfare; 6. Resistance against lawfare; Conclusion.

Reviews

Author Information

Agung Wardana is an associate professor at Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia. He was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship to undertake research at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Germany (2021–2024). He is the author of Contemporary Bali: Contested Space and Governance (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019).

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Countries Available

All regions
Latest Reading Guide

NOV RG 20252

 

Shopping Cart
Your cart is empty
Shopping cart
Mailing List