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Authoritarianism

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Encyclopedia of Big Data

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Individuals in authoritarian societies typically lack freedom of assembly and freedom of the press, but the internet and social media have provided an important voice to many members of authoritarian societies. Social media allows individuals to connect with people of similar minds, share opinions, and find a powerful way to counter the isolation often associated with life in authoritarian societies. However, advances in data collection, sharing, and storage have also drastically reshaped the policies and practices of authoritarian regimes. Digital technologies have not only expanded opportunities for public expression and discussion, they have also improved government capabilities to surveil and censor users and content. This is a complex situation in which, in authoritarian and repressive contexts, technology can be used to stifle and silence dissenting voices. The development of facial recognition and surveillance technology, which have been used to counter crime, can also pose...

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Further Readings

  • Jumet, K. D. (2018). Contesting the repressive state: Why ordinary Egyptians protested during the Arab spring. New York: Oxford University Press.

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  • Kabanov, Y., & Karyagin, M. (2018). Data-driven authoritarianism: Non-democracies and big data. In D. A. Alexandrov, A. V. Boukhanovsky, A. V. Chugunov, Y. Kabanov, & O. Koltsova (Eds.), Digital transformation and global society (Communications in computer and information science) (Vol. 858, pp. 144–155). Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02843-5_12.

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  • Mechkova, Valeriya, Daniel Pemstein, Brigitte Seim, Steven Wilson. 2020. Digital Society Project Dataset v2.

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  • Tufekci, Z. (2017). Twitter and tear gas: The power and fragility of networked protest. New Haven/London: Yale University Press.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. George Mason University, Arlington, VA, USA

    Layla Hashemi

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  1. Layla Hashemi
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Correspondence to Layla Hashemi .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Policy, Government and International Affairs, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA

    Laurie A. Schintler

  2. School of Policy, Government and International Affairs, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA

    Connie L. McNeely

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Hashemi, L. (2021). Authoritarianism. In: Schintler, L.A., McNeely, C.L. (eds) Encyclopedia of Big Data. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32001-4_544-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32001-4_544-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-32001-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-32001-4

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