Toward Internet Development Model of Developmentally-Oriented Authoritarian Regimes: Internet Diffusion and Information Control in China and Vietnam

A major debate in the literature on the political economy of development centers on the relationship between regime type and economic development. This debate has been heavily influenced by the East Asian development model, where authoritarianism has often gone hand in hand with high growth rates. In South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia, development has been propelled by authoritarian or semidemocratic regimes. One key element of this argument is that the repression of labor under these authoritarian regimes has been especially helpful in states' pursuit of high growth rates because it has ensured political stability and checked societal demands.

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Let Many Civil Societies Bloom: The Rise of Consultative Authoritarianism in China

The China Quarterly ◽

10.1017/s0305741012001269 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 213 ◽

pp. 19-38 ◽

Cited By ~ 144

Author(s):

Jessica C. Teets

Keyword(s):

Civil Society ◽

Local Government ◽

Economic Crisis ◽

Authoritarian Regimes ◽

Public Welfare ◽

Development Model ◽

State Control ◽

New Model ◽

Local Officials

AbstractIn this article, I analyse civil society development in China using examples from Beijing to demonstrate the causal role of local officials' ideas about these groups during the last 20 years. I argue that the decentralization of public welfare and the linkage of promotion to the delivery of these goods supported the idea of local government–civil society collaboration. This idea was undermined by international examples of civil society opposing authoritarianism and the strength of the state-led development model after the 2008 economic crisis. I find growing convergence on a new model of state–society relationship that I call “consultative authoritarianism,” which encourages the simultaneous expansion of a fairly autonomous civil society and the development of more indirect tools of state control. This model challenges the conventional wisdom that an operationally autonomous civil society cannot exist inside authoritarian regimes and that the presence of civil society is an indicator of democratization.

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I Know What You Mean: Information Compensation in an Authoritarian Country

The International Journal of Press/Politics ◽

10.1177/1940161220963572 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 194016122096357

Author(s):

Jiangnan Zhu ◽

Chengli Wang

Keyword(s):

Text Analysis ◽

Authoritarian Regimes ◽

Information Control ◽

State Regulations ◽

Individual Level ◽

Extra Information ◽

The Government ◽

Compensation Approach ◽

Free Flow Of Information ◽

Flow Of Information

How do people address information deficiency caused by rigid control of information in authoritarian regimes? We argue that there exists an internally oriented information compensation approach through which people can glean extra information from official messages domestically. This approach does not violate state regulations directly and allows people to retrieve information not explicitly publicized by the government. We delineate the circumstances of internally oriented information compensation using the case of China. We conduct trend and text analysis on the data of millions of individual-level actions of Chinese Internet search engines and social media users during a large anticorruption campaign that conspicuously claimed to crack down on influential corrupt leaders without naming who exactly. We show that some Chinese netizens were able to identify the unnamed high-ranking officials targeted by the campaign based on negative official reports about their family members. Some of the netizens even correctly predicted the downfall of the officials months before the government’s announcements. As the existing literature is increasingly concerned about the threat of digital authoritarianism on throttling the free flow of information, our findings indicate that some authoritarian citizens, instead of passively accepting the government’s information control, acquired their own arts of information self-salvation. This, though not directly challenging the government, constitutes an everyday politics under digital authoritarianism.

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Internet Censorship Circumvention Tools: Escaping the Control of the Syrian Regime

Media and Communication ◽

10.17645/mac.v4i1.357 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 39-50 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Walid Al-Saqaf

Keyword(s):

Freedom Of Expression ◽

Authoritarian Regimes ◽

The Internet ◽

Information Control ◽

Internet Users ◽

The Status ◽

The Media ◽

Internet Censorship ◽

Censorship Circumvention ◽

The Arab Spring

Studies have shown that authoritarian regimes tend to censor the media to limit potential threats to the status quo. While such censorship practices were traditionally aimed at broadcast and print media, the emergence of the Internet and social media in particular, prompted some authoritarian regimes, such as the Assad regime in Syria, to try and exert a similar level of censorship on the Internet as well. During the Arab Spring, the Syrian regime blocked hundreds of websites that provided social networking, news, and other services. Taking Syria as a case study, this paper examines whether Internet censorship succeeded in preventing Internet users from reaching censored online content during 2010−2012. By analyzing the use of Alkasir, a censorship circumvention tool created by the author, the paper provides empirical evidence demonstrating that users were in fact able to bypass censorship and access blocked websites. The findings demonstrate that censorship circumvention tools constituted a threat to the information control systems of authoritarian regimes, highlighting the potential of such tools to promote online freedom of expression in countries where Internet censorship is prevalent.

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When Do Private Actors Engage in Censorship? Evidence From a Correspondence Experiment with Russian Private Media Firms

British Journal of Political Science ◽

10.1017/s0007123421000351 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-20

Author(s):

Quintin H. Beazer ◽

Charles D. Crabtree ◽

Christopher J. Fariss ◽

Holger L. Kern

Keyword(s):

Collective Action ◽

Authoritarian Regime ◽

Authoritarian Regimes ◽

Third Party ◽

Information Control ◽

Media Firms ◽

Private Actors

Abstract In authoritarian regimes, repression encourages private actors to censor not only themselves, but also other private actors—a behavior we call “regime-induced private censorship.” We present the results of a correspondence experiment conducted in Russia that investigates the censorship behavior of private media firms. We find that such firms censor third-party advertisements that include anti-regime language, calls for political or non-political collective action, or both. Our results demonstrate the significance of other types of censorship besides state censorship in an important authoritarian regime and contribute to the rapidly growing literature on authoritarian information control.

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The Internet and state control in authoritarian regimes: China, Cuba and the counterrevolution (originally published in August 2001)

First Monday ◽

10.5210/fm.v0i0.1788 ◽

2007 ◽

Author(s):

Shanthi Kalathil ◽

Taylor C. Boas

Keyword(s):

Information And Communication Technologies ◽

Internet Use ◽

Authoritarian Regimes ◽

The Internet ◽

Authoritarian Rule ◽

Political Impact ◽

Other Information ◽

Internet Development ◽

The Impact ◽

Strong Control

It is widely believed that the Internet poses an insurmountable threat to authoritarian rule. But political science scholarship has provided little support for this conventional wisdom, and a number of case studies from around the world show that authoritarian regimes are finding ways to control and counter the political impact of Internet use. While the long-term political impact of the Internet remains an open question, we argue that these strategies for control may continue to be viable in the short to medium term. Many authoritarian regimes translate a long and successful history of control over other information and communication technologies into strong control of Internet development within their borders. Potential challenges to the state may arise from Internet use in several areas: the mass public, civil society, the economy, and the international community. Authoritarian states will likely respond to these challenges with a variety of reactive measures: restricting Internet access, filtering content, monitoring online behavior, or even prohibiting Internet use entirely. In addition, such states seek to extend central control through proactive strategies, guiding the development of the medium to promote their own interests and priorities. Through a combination of reactive and proactive strategies, an authoritarian regime can counter the challenge posed by Internet use and even utilize the Internet to extend its reach and authority. In this paper we illustrate how two authoritarian regimes, China and Cuba, are maintainng control over the Internet's political impact through different combinations of reactive and proactive strategies. These cases illustrate that, contrary to assumptions, different types of authoritarian regimes may be able to control and profit from the Internet. Examining the experiences of these two countries may help to shed light on other authoritarian regimes' strategies for Internet development, as well as help to develop generalizable conclusions about the impact of the Internet on authoritarian rule.

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The Political Economy of the New Arab Awakening

The Oxford Handbook of Africa and Economics ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199687114.013.17 ◽

2014 ◽

pp. 738-755

Author(s):

Mustapha Kamel Nabli ◽

Hakim Ben Hammouda

Keyword(s):

Financial Crises ◽

Historical Context ◽

Short Review ◽

Authoritarian Regimes ◽

Development Model ◽

The Political ◽

Broad Perspective ◽

Independence Era ◽

Economic Developments ◽

The Arab Spring

This chapter provides a broad perspective and a comprehensive view about the origins and causes of the New Arab Awakening. In order to understand the Arab Spring—or New Arab Awakening—it needs to be placed within the long historical context of political and economic developments at least since the 1950s, the post-independence era. It reviews the various phases of Arab development going from the initial post-independence authoritarian bargain, to the modified social contract from the 1980s to the end of the 1990s, and the accumulation of vulnerabilities of the authoritarian regimes in the 2000s. An analogy is used with financial crises and distinguishes between fundamental vulnerabilities and immediate triggers as a means to understand recent events. Also provided is a short review of the economic and political reasons behind the failures of the Arab development model which led to the demise of the authoritarian political regimes.

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Beijing will increase sway over African policymaking

Emerald Expert Briefings ◽

10.1108/oxan-db212857 ◽

2016 ◽

Keyword(s):

Authoritarian Regimes ◽

Development Model ◽

Content Type ◽

Policy Influence ◽

The Media ◽

Training Opportunities ◽

And Training

Subject Outlook for Beijing's influence on African policymakers. Significance Chinese and African companies have in recent days finalised 17 billion dollars' worth of deals, media reported on August 5. Beijing's impact as a investor and donor, however, obscures other ways in which it is growing its influence in the region, notably by providing technical policy assistance and training, which African governments eagerly receive in the hope of mimicking China's development model. Impacts Authoritarian regimes will likely cite China's control of the media to justify clampdowns on critical journalists and activists. ZANU-PF will use Chinese-sponsored grassroots training opportunities to mobilise support ahead of the 2018 election. China's growing policy influence in Africa will not deter -- and may even encourage -- Sinophobia in the wider population.

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