This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses how social and political actors struggle to carve out space for their activism, directed at the state or striving to affect social norms and institutions. The term 'political space' has come into vogue in recent years, among both policy makers and scholars, for instance, in terms of ways to expand participatory frameworks in authoritarian regimes in the name of 'good governance'. Political space is not coterminous with the state; it includes both state and non-state arenas for participation. Asian authoritarian states have used different measures to limit political space, including co-optation, politicization of the judiciary, legal restrictions, securitization, control of media and censorship and manipulation of ethic and communal politics. An analysis of political space necessitates clear analytical distinctions between abstractions such as 'states', 'governments', and 'political regimes'.