Continuity and change 10 years after 3.11: Processes and dynamics in state-society relations

ABSTRACT This introduction presents the three papers of the special section and embeds them in the broader debate on continuity and change in state-society relations within the first decade after the triple disaster of March 2011. We first discuss reconstruction efforts by the government and their social and environmental impacts. This is followed by an assessment of changes in civil society and dynamics in state-civil society relations. We find that access to politics became increasingly difficult for civic groups since 2012. This led many of them to readjust their strategies for pursuing their goals. We then show how the three papers tie into these debates and carve out issues for further research: i.e., whether demobilized sectors of civil society would be ready for remobilization in case of a new political opportunity, the long-term effect of newcomers with new left values on the protest scene, as well as the state’s power over the meaning-making of the disaster and how this feeds into national identity and politics.