Abstract:
While digital technologies have induced profound global transformations, political scientists often lack the analytical tools to grasp their effects on politics. In particular, the impact of digitization on dictatorships remains empirically understudied and seriously underconceptualized. How do new technological possibilities affect autocratic politics? This contribution begins with the inner logic of authoritarianism rather than technical innovation. It first maps how autocrats employ various digital technologies to maintain power. This helps us identify seven core areas where new tools transform dictatorial politics. We delineate the key characteristics of these areas of change and conclude that, in their sum, technologically induced transformations significantly alter the nature of dictatorship if and when it is digitized.
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