28864

WiSe 14/15: Technology of Liberation? The Power of the Internet in Democratic and Authoritarian Regimes

Florian Töpfl

Comments

For nearly two decades there has been widespread enthusiasm about the possibility of new internet and communication technologies (ICTs) empowering citizens in both democratic and authoritarian regimes. This seminar will provide a graduate-level overview of research on the topic. In the first part, dedicated to theoretical works, we will discuss the most common hopes and dangers as these were associated with the rise of the new technology. In the second part, we will debate a range of recent empirical studies on how internet-mediated communication has afforded, for instance, new patterns of behavior by political elites, journalists and citizens, as well as new forms of protest movements in both authoritarian and democratic societies. One provocative question open for debate at the seminar will thus be whether we need to think of the internet as a "technology of liberation" (Larry Diamond, 2010) - or rather as one of control. close