This report is part of the “Volunteer Activists” series on the state of civil society in Iran. It focuses on the transformations and weakening of this sphere following the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom movement (the Jina uprising). The report is being finalized at a moment when Iran has entered a phase of war and regional crisis, while the cumulative effects of multiple waves of repression have left civil society fragmented, organizationally worn down, and increasingly marginalized. In this context, civil society must be understood not merely as an “organizational sector” alongside the state and the market, but as a field and process of independent collective action and networking, the production of social capital, and the defense of fundamental rights—making it essential to understanding possible paths forward.

The report has three aims. First, it offers a conceptual and functional framework for understanding civil society in Iran’s specific conditions, drawing on contemporary definitions as well as the lived accounts of Iranian activists and analysts. Second, it maps the mechanisms through which civil society is constrained and weakened—including legislation and criminalization, the securitization of collective action, restrictions on digital space, and the material erosion caused by war and sanctions. Third, it identifies the dominant trends shaping civil society in recent years: a shift from formal organizations to informal and digital networks; the growing role of lifestyle-based forms of resistance; generation-specific modes of activism; and, at the same time, the increasing fragility of organization and the transmission of experience. The report also shows how the Jina uprising, even as the state intensified repression and raised the costs of action in confronting it, reshaped social demands and norms, expanding the terrain of civil engagement in new ways.

This text builds on previous “Volunteer Activists” reports on civil society in Iran, including those on the right to education and the teachers’ movement, violations of the rights to assembly and association, and semi-annual labor reports. It is based on interviews with 21 civil society activists and analysts inside and outside the country, as well as a review of key laws and policies related to freedom of expression, association, and assembly, alongside documented experiences of repression over recent decades. For security reasons, no individuals are named; references are made instead to their positions and areas of activity. The report aims to present a realistic picture: civil society in Iran today is under unprecedented pressure, yet continues to persist in new, often subterranean forms. It is precisely this coexistence of crisis and survival that makes understanding it essential for any assessment of future possibilities.

The findings show that in recent years—especially after the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, and in the context of war and widespread repression—Iranian civil society has entered a phase of deep reconfiguration. On the one hand, the weakening of formal structures, the erosion of human resources, and legal and security constraints have sharply reduced the capacity for classical forms of organization. On the other, new forms of activism have emerged through informal networks, digital spaces, and everyday, lifestyle-oriented practices, signaling the persistence and reproduction of civil society at a different level. This simultaneous institutional erosion and social dynamism is one of the defining features of the current moment.

Alongside this shift, the emergence of a new generation of activists, changes in the registers of discourse and action, and a move away from an exclusive focus on the street toward more varied forms of claim-making stand out as key findings. At the same time, the strengthening of certain radical and violence-oriented discourses, generational divides, weak transmission of experience, and the expansion of state-aligned civil society have been identified as major challenges. Even so, signs of social opening and new possibilities for redefining civic action—especially in the context of post-war needs—suggest that, despite unprecedented pressure, civil society in Iran remains a living and evolving field.

‍