Illusion of control: how internet use generates anti-regime sentiment in authoritarian regimes

Ruijgrok, Kris

doi:10.1080/13569775.2020.1851931

Cited by 9 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Second, it might be that the increase in online news consumption makes those without entertainment interest become more critical of the regime. Whereas some scholars argue that internet use generates authoritarian citizens’ anti-regime sentiment (Ruijgrok 2021), this largely hinges on whether citizens can get alternative information online. The internet has been well controlled in authoritarian states especially in China (Roberts 2018), which has inhibited the accessibility of information contrary to official rhetoric.…”

Section: “Soft Autocracy”: Entertainment Promotes Authoritarian Resil...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Amusing Ourselves to Loyalty? Entertainment, Propaganda, and Regime Resilience in China

Xia¹

2021

Political Research Quarterly

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Is it possible to form “soft autocracy” that manages citizens by taking away their sense of resistance? This paper suggests that the rise of entertainment media in autocracies enables the rulers to maintain their resilience through a soft approach, thereby avoiding costly heavy-handed measures. Such a soft approach can work because entertainment media, like “fictitious pleasure drugs,” undo audiences’ sophistication so that people are susceptible to autocratic propaganda. By analyzing a Chinese data set, via instrumented regressions, this paper shows that a one standard deviation increase in people’s interest in entertainment media is associated with an increase of almost 20% in both their satisfaction with the current regime and their anti-Western hostility. Furthermore, the findings show a positive relationship between people’s entertainment media interest and their acceptation of indoctrination by state media. In short, entertainment media contribute to China’s regime stability through “amusing ordinary citizens to loyalty.”

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Section: “Soft Autocracy”: Entertainment Promotes Authoritarian Resil...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Amusing Ourselves to Loyalty? Entertainment, Propaganda, and Regime Resilience in China

Xia¹

2021

Political Research Quarterly

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“…At the same time, social media still proves a powerful tool of civil resistance (Howard 2010; Roberts 2020; Ruijgrok 2021; Wood 2022). Censorship can bolster anti-regime sentiment (Guriev and Treisman 2020) and push people to learn circumvention tactics, such as using virtual private networks to access forbidden content (Hobbs and Roberts 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Messaging Apps: A Rising Tool for Informational Autocrats

Trauthig

Martin

Woolley

2023

Political Research Quarterly

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Social media have caused adaptations to existing conceptualizations of democratization, democratic backsliding, and authoritarian hardening. One attempt to capture how social media may solidify authoritarian tendencies while maintaining the government’s popularity is the concept of informational autocracies: rule primarily through the manipulation of information. In this paper, we contribute to Guriev and Treisman’s conceptualizations, who coined the term “informational autocrats” and relied on case studies from around the world. Overall, we expand on existing literature on social media and informational autocracies via a discussion of encrypted messaging apps (e.g., WhatsApp or Telegram) in such contexts. Using a qualitative comparative approach consisting of 68 interviews across 11 country case studies, our analyses demonstrate that the relative secrecy offered by encryption messaging apps can benefit state propagandists and authoritarian tendencies.

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A systematic review of worldwide causal and correlational evidence on digital media and democracy

et al. 2022

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One of today’s most controversial and consequential issues is whether the global uptake of digital media is causally related to a decline in democracy. We conducted a systematic review of causal and correlational evidence (N = 496 articles) on the link between digital media use and different political variables. Some associations, such as increasing political participation and information consumption, are likely to be beneficial for democracy and were often observed in autocracies and emerging democracies. Other associations, such as declining political trust, increasing populism and growing polarization, are likely to be detrimental to democracy and were more pronounced in established democracies. While the impact of digital media on political systems depends on the specific variable and system in question, several variables show clear directions of associations. The evidence calls for research efforts and vigilance by governments and civil societies to better understand, design and regulate the interplay of digital media and democracy.

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Illusion of control: how internet use generates anti-regime sentiment in authoritarian regimes

Cited by 9 publications

References 42 publications

Amusing Ourselves to Loyalty? Entertainment, Propaganda, and Regime Resilience in China

Amusing Ourselves to Loyalty? Entertainment, Propaganda, and Regime Resilience in China

Messaging Apps: A Rising Tool for Informational Autocrats

A systematic review of worldwide causal and correlational evidence on digital media and democracy

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