Rise of Digital Repression: How Technology is Reshaping Power, Politics, and Resistance

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. Steven Feldstein's book, "The Rise of Digital Repression," documents how the emergence of advanced digital tools bring new dimensions to political repression. He investigates the goals, motivations, and drivers of these digital tactics and highlights how governments pursue digital strategies based on ongoing levels of repression, political leadership, state capacity, and technological development. The book concludes by laying out innovative ideas and strategies for civil society and opposition movements to respond to the digital autocratic wave.

\n Format: Hardback
\n Length: 336 pages
\n Publication date: 10 August 2021
\n Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc
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The world is experiencing a significant transformation driven by digital disruptions that are reshaping the dynamics of governments' efforts to suppress dissent and maintain control over their nations. As more people turn to online platforms for communication and information, authoritarian regimes have simultaneously developed advanced technological capabilities to restrict and repress their citizens. In his book, "The Rise of Digital Repression," Steven Feldstein explores how the emergence of advanced digital tools brings new dimensions to political repression. Through extensive field research conducted in Thailand, the Philippines, and Ethiopia, Feldstein delves into the goals, motivations, and drivers behind these digital tactics employed by governments. He highlights how governments pursue digital strategies based on a combination of factors such as ongoing levels of repression, political leadership, state capacity, and technological development.

Feldstein argues that the international community is already witnessing glimpses of the frontiers of repression, with authoritarian regimes in countries like China combining mass surveillance, censorship, DNA collection, and artificial intelligence to enforce their directives in Xinjiang. As these trends continue to spread globally, Feldstein emphasizes the significant implications for democracies and civil society activists alike.

The book offers a compelling synthesis of how anti-democratic leaders harness powerful technology to advance their political objectives. It concludes by presenting innovative ideas and strategies for civil society and opposition movements to respond to the digital autocratic wave. By understanding the evolving landscape of digital repression, readers can better equip themselves to challenge authoritarianism and promote democratic values in the digital age.

\n Weight: 602g\n
Dimension: 166 x 242 x 34 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9780190057497\n \n