The Rise of Digital Repression: How Technology is Reshaping Power, Politics, and Resistance (CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTL PEACE SERIES)

The world is undergoing a profound set of digital disruptions that are changing the nature of how governments counter dissent and assert control over their countries. While increasing numbers of people rely primarily or exclusively on online platforms, authoritarian regimes have concurrently developed a formidable array of technological capabilities to constrain and repress their citizens. In The Rise of Digital Repression , Steven Feldstein documents how the emergence of advanced digital tools bring new dimensions to political repression. Presenting new field research from Thailand, the Philippines, and Ethiopia, he investigates the goals, motivations, and drivers of these digital tactics. Feldstein further highlights how governments pursue digital strategies based on a range of factors: ongoing levels of repression, political leadership, state capacity, and technological development. The international community, he argues, is already seeing glimpses of what the frontiers of repression look like. For instance, Chinese authorities have brought together mass surveillance, censorship, DNA collection, and artificial intelligence to enforce their directives in Xinjiang. As many of these trends go global, Feldstein shows how this has major implications for democracies and civil society activists around the world. A compelling synthesis of how anti-democratic leaders harness powerful technology to advance their political objectives, The Rise of Digital Repression concludes by laying out innovative ideas and strategies for civil society and opposition movements to respond to the digital autocratic wave. "The world is undergoing a profound set of digital disruptions that are changing the nature of how governments counter dissent and assert control over their countries. While increasing numbers of people rely primarily or exclusively on online platforms, authoritarian regimes have concurrently developed a formidable array of technological capabilities to constrain and repress their citizens. In The Rise of Digital Repression, Steven Feldstein documents how the emergence of advanced digital tools bring new dimensions to political repression. Presenting new field research from Thailand, the Philippines, and Ethiopia, he investigates the goals, motivations, and drivers of these digitalactics. Feldstein further highlights how governments pursue digital strategies based on a range of factors: ongoing levels of repression, political leadership, state capacity, and technological development. The international community, he argues, is already seeing glimpses of what the frontiers of epression look like. For instance, Chinese authorities have brought together mass surveillance, censorship, DNA collection, and artificial intelligence to enforce their directives in Xinjiang. As many of these trends go global, Feldstein shows how this has major implications for democracies and civil society activists around the world. A compelling synthesis of how anti-democratic leaders harness powerful technology to advance their political objectives, The Rise of Digital Repression concludes by laying out innovative ideas and strategies for civil society and opposition movements to respond to the digital autocratic wave" -- provided by the publisher This book documents the rise of digital repression and government deployment of new technologies to counter dissent, maintain political control, and ensure leadership survival. The emergence of varied digital technologies is bringing new dimensions to political repression. At its core, the expanding use of digital repression reflects a fairly simple motivation: states are seeking and finding new ways to control, manipulate, surveil, or disrupt real or perceived threats. This book investigates the goals, motivations, and drivers of digital repression. It presents case studies in Thailand, the Philippines, and Ethiopia, highlighting how governments pursue digital strategies based on a range of factors: ongoing levels of repression, leadership, state capacity, and technological development. But a basic political motive - how to preserve and sustain political incumbency - remains a principal explanation for their use. The international community is already seeing glimpses of what the frontiers of repression look like, such as in China, where authorities have brought together mass surveillance, online censorship, DNA collection, and artificial intelligence to enforce their rule in Xinjiang. Many of these trends are going global. This has major implications for democratic governance and civil society activists around the world. Despite the challenging landscape, the book also presents innovative ideas and strategies for civil society and opposition movements to respond to the digital autocratic wave Advances in artificial intelligence, mass surveillance, disinformation, facial recognition, and censorship are transforming how authoritarian leaders advance their repressive agendas. This is leading to a fundamental reshaping of the relationship between citizen and state. In The Rise of Digital Repression, Steven Feldstein presents new field research from Thailand, the Philippines, and Ethiopia to hightlight how governments pursue digital strategies ofrepression based on a range of factors: ongoing levels of repression, leadership, state capacity, and technological development. As many of these trends are going global, Felstein argues that this has major implications for democracies and civil society activists around the world Advances in artificial intelligence, mass surveillance, disinformation, facial recognition, and censorship are transforming how authoritarian leaders advance their repressive agendas. This is leading to a fundamental reshaping of the relationship between citizen and state. In 'The Rise of Digital Repression', Steven Feldstein presents new field research from Thailand, the Philippines, and Ethiopia to hightlight how governments pursue digital strategies of repression based on a range of factors: ongoing levels of repression, leadership, state capacity, and technological development.