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E-book
Author Gainous, Jason, 1971- author.

Title Directed digital dissidence in autocracies : how China wins online / Jason Gainous, Rongbin Han, Andrew W. MacDonald, and Kevin M. Wagner
Published New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2024]

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Description 1 online resource (vii, 174 pages) : illustrations
Series Oxford studies digital politics series
Oxford studies in digital politics.
Contents Cover -- Series -- Directed Digital Dissidence in Autocracies -- Copyright -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- 1. The China Case: Strong State, Popular Contention, and the Internet -- 2. The Chinese Internet: Citizen Awareness of Government Control -- 3. What Does Directed Digital Dissidence Look Like? Critical Information Flows, Trust, and Support for Protest -- 4. Social Media: The Battleground of the Information War -- 5. Jumping Over the Great Firewall: A Threat to the Chinese Strategy -- 6. The Digital Dissident Citizen: Who Are the Wall Jumpers?
7. Managing the Information War: Voices Heard from Beyond the Wall Are Lost -- 8. Digital Directed Dissidence in Action: Applications and Its Limits -- 9. Will Directed Digital Dissidence Keep Working? -- Appendix A: Survey Questions -- Appendix B: Normality of Residuals for All Models -- Appendix C: Chinese Social Media Posts -- Notes -- References -- Index
Summary "In this book, we use the case of China to examine how state actors can transform the Internet and online discourse into a key strategic element for maintaining the government and relieving domestic pressure on national institutions. While scholars have long known that the democratizing influence of the Internet can be blunted by autocratic states, in this book, we show that the online sphere can effectively be co-opted by states like China and transformed into a supporting institution. Our theory, Directed Digital Dissidence, explains how autocracies manage critical online information flows and the impact this management has on mass opinion and behavior. While the expansion of the Internet may stimulate dissidence, it also provides the central government an avenue to direct that dissent away and toward selected targets. Under the strategy of Directed Digital Dissidence, the Internet becomes a mechanism to dissipate threats by serving as a targeted relief valve rather than a building pressure cooker. We consider the process and impact of this evolving state led manipulation of the political Internet using data and examples from China. We use an original large-scale random survey of Chinese citizens to measure Internet use, social media use, and political attitudes. We also consider the impact of the state firewall. Beyond simply identifying the government strategy, we focus on testing the effectiveness of the strategy with empirical data. We also consider how the redirection of dissent can be done across a broader range of targets, including non-state actors and other nations"-- Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on September 25, 2023)
Subject Communication in politics -- Technological innovations -- China
Internet -- Political aspects -- China
Political participation -- China -- Computer network resources
Social media -- Political aspects -- China
Political participation -- Technological innovations -- China
Dictatorship -- China
Communication in politics -- Technological innovations.
Dictatorship.
Internet -- Political aspects.
Political participation -- Computer network resources.
Political participation -- Technological innovations.
Social media -- Political aspects.
China.
Form Electronic book
Author Han, Rongbin, author.
MacDonald, Andrew W., author.
Wagner, Kevin M., 1971- author.
LC no. 2023022522
ISBN 9780197680414
0197680410
0197680402
9780197680421
0197680429
9780197680407
Other Titles How China wins online