POL 3114 Chapter Notes -Larry Diamond, Authoritarianism
6 Jul 2014
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Document Summary
It is unwise to make the assumption that the internet will lead to rapid democratization in china or in other repressive regimes. There are difficult issues of government policy and corporate responsibility that must be resolved in order to ensure that the internet and mobile technologies can fulfill their potential to support liberation and empowerment. When an authoritarian regime embraces and adjusts to the inevitable changes brought by digital communications, the result is what i call networked authoritarianism. In the networked authoritarian state, the single ruling party remains in control while a wide range of conversations about the country"s problems nonetheless occurs on websites and social-networking services. The government follows this online chatter, and sometimes people are able to use the internet to call attention to social problems or injustices and even manage to have an impact on government policies.
