Authoritarian Research Articles

Institutional Complexity and Social Innovation: The Case of Chinese Social Enterprises

Abstract Social enterprises (SEs) have emerged throughout the world to address societal challenges through market-based activities and innovation. Research has focused on how SEs manage the tensions arising from the combination of social-welfare and market logics, neglecting the institutional complexity that arises in authoritarian regimes where the state plays a dominant role. Based on the institutional logics perspective and interview data of 42 SE leaders in China, we find that key tensions arise from the state and social-welfare logics and that state logic (re)configures the social–market relationships to be compatible. Chinese SEs employed depoliticization and localization to adapt to this unique form of institutional complexity in their social innovation efforts. This study advances research on SEs, institutional complexity, and hybrid organizing.

Truth in the Crossfire: The Case of Ethiopia and Fact-Checking in Authoritarian Contexts

Fact-checking in Ethiopia is doubly challenged. First, because Ethiopia is ruled by an authoritarian government, which restricts the information environment, and second, because the conflict in northern Ethiopia that erupted in November 2020 has made disinformation more rampant, and its implications deadly. But fact-checking in Ethiopia is the product not only of the work of Ethiopian organizations: local fact-checkers international allies and funders also play important roles. This article explores the practice of fact-checking by local organizations and the challenges they encounter in this work in an authoritarian, conflict-affected context. It also serves as a case study shedding light on the interplay between Ethiopian fact-checking organizations and their allies in the international development sector. Local and international organizations have distinct positions within the fact-checking ecosystem and funder (grantee relationships, and funders, at times, compound local organizations’ challenges). This research reflects information gathered through semi-structured interviews with local fact-checkers and their international allies, as well as a qualitative content analysis of publicly available materials and social media channels. Its findings imply that local fact-checking organizations, their funders, and allied international organizations interact in complex ways in challenging environments.

Enhancing misogyny detection in bilingual texts using explainable AI and multilingual fine-tuned transformers

AbstractGendered disinformation undermines women’s rights, democratic principles, and national security by worsening societal divisions through authoritarian regimes’ intentional weaponization of social media. Online misogyny represents a harmful societal issue, threatening to transform digital platforms into environments that are hostile and inhospitable to women. Despite the severity of this issue, efforts to persuade digital platforms to strengthen their protections against gendered disinformation are frequently ignored, highlighting the difficult task of countering online misogyny in the face of commercial interests. This growing concern underscores the need for effective measures to create safer online spaces, where respect and equality prevail, ensuring that women can participate fully and freely without the fear of harassment or discrimination. This study addresses the challenge of detecting misogynous content in bilingual (English and Italian) online communications. Utilizing FastText word embeddings and explainable artificial intelligence techniques, we introduce a model that enhances both the interpretability and accuracy in detecting misogynistic language. To conduct an in-depth analysis, we implemented a range of experiments encompassing classic machine learning methodologies and conventional deep learning approaches to the recent transformer-based models incorporating both language-specific and multilingual capabilities. This paper enhances the methodologies for detecting misogyny by incorporating incremental learning for cutting-edge datasets containing tweets and posts from different sources like Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit, with our proposed approach outperforming these datasets in metrics such as accuracy, F1-score, precision, and recall. This process involved refining hyperparameters, employing optimization techniques, and utilizing generative configurations. By implementing Local Interpretable Model-agnostic Explanations (LIME), we further elucidate the rationale behind the model’s predictions, enhancing understanding of its decision-making process.

Russian Business and the Authoritarian Welfare State

Authoritarian regimes widely involve non-state actors in social welfare to increase output legitimacy and regime stability. Despite the volume of corporate social investments, the role of private companies in authoritarian welfare is still poorly understood. This study analyzes the functioning of corporate social programs in the Russian authoritarian welfare state by focusing on corporate grant competitions and corporate volunteering as means of engaging both the local population and the companies’ employees in the regions. Drawing on stakeholder theory, it investigates how companies position themselves as welfare providers and how they legitimize their role with regard to key stakeholders, including state officials, employees, and the local population. The analysis is based on in-depth interviews with company representatives and key stakeholders in four Russian regions: Kemerovo, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region, Tiumen′, and Volgograd. In addition, corporate social reports from 2018 and information for beneficiaries were evaluated to identify program guidelines, motivations, and stakeholder assessments. The study argues that companies play an important role as welfare providers through the financial support of social organizations and employee initiatives at the regional and the local level. By providing social investments in geographically defined “territories of presence,” Russian companies pursue a double legitimation strategy, both demonstrating their social responsibility and loyalty toward the regime and strengthening authoritarian welfare provision through private social investments. With a detailed analysis of corporate social programs, this study contributes to our understanding of the specific conditions and mechanisms of social policy in authoritarian regimes and the place that companies occupy within it.

Justifying authoritarian practices: epistemic governance in two opposite interventionist policies on women’s attire in Iran’s pre- and post-revolution 1979

ABSTRACT How do authoritarian actors seek to justify their interventionist gendered policies? The study bridges the authoritarian governmentality scholarship with Epistemic Governance theory to disclose epistemic politics in interventionist policymaking. It gathers textual data from political leaders and influential actors to investigate the epistemic practices around the justifications of two culture-shaping policies on Iranian women’s attire: the ‘unveiling’ policy banning all women’s head covers in the 1930s and the ‘mandatory veiling’ laws in the 1980s. Foucauldian discourse analysis as elaborated in Epistemic Governance analytic is applied to scrutinise how women’s attires were problematised in both cases and how exclusionary measures were justified. The findings reveal that in the 1930s, veiling was represented as the dangerous embodied emblem of backwardness that must be excluded in the urgent context of national progress. In contrast, unveiling, as the marker of cultural colonialism, was prohibited in the context of the necessity to protect the counter-hegemonic national values in the 1980s. These findings highlight recontextualisation practices turning women’s attire into a matter of national security that justify pastoral power for governmental interventions. The study hence warns against (in-)security politics in authoritarian governance whereby any epistemic field is depoliticised, and public opinion is conducted towards interventionist policies.

Nationalist Erosion after Protest and Repression

Abstract The leaders of authoritarian regimes often invoke nationalist themes to garner support from their populations. However, negative experiences with the regime may effectively inoculate individuals against nationalist campaigns, reducing the ability of the regime to sway public opinion. In this paper, we study the long-term effects of mobilization and repression on nationalist attitudes. We exploit a discontinuity in exposure to a student movement, by comparing alumni who were in college and on campus during the movement with alumni who only enrolled after the movement was suppressed. We find that alumni who were in college during the movement are substantially less nationalistic than those who enrolled shortly thereafter. Our findings are consistent across a range of specifications and show that exposure to mass mobilization and state repression is associated with lower support for nationalism. These differences are observable more than twenty-five years later, despite sustained state censorship.

Echoes of Dissent: The Transformative Power of Sound in Iran's Urban Nightscapes

The suppression of public dissent in Iran has catalysed alternative forms of resistance, most notably Nocturnal Rooftop Slogan Chanting (NRSC). This study explores NRSC as an urban phenomenon, illuminating its role in reshaping nightscapes under an authoritarian regime. How can politically disenfranchised citizens reclaim urban spaces and assert their voices under oppressive conditions? It is argued that NRSC creates alternative sonic geographies, challenging conventional narratives of nightscapes and expanding spaces of dissent. Combining theoretical analysis with empirical observations, this study includes a thematic analysis of 158 videos of NRSC from 2021 to 2023 and provides insights into the characteristics and content of these protests. The findings reveal that NRSC fosters communal identities and challenges state control through the creation of dispersed, anonymous, yet interconnected acts of sonic occupation. It thus transforms urban nights into platforms for collective expression and symbolic resistance. The study also demonstrates that NRSC's effectiveness lies in its ability to leverage the urban nightscape, particularly the vertical dimension of rooftops, to create a pervasive soundscape of dissent. It invites further research into the role of sensory experiences in shaping political landscapes and suggests a re-evaluation of urban nights as crucial spaces of identity formation and resistance.

A Dynamic Model of Authoritarian Social Control

Abstract Authoritarian regimes often use targeted social control - unequal application of the law to limit expressive freedom and enforce social conformity. At the same time, their methods appear less draconian than in the past. In this model, an authority structures punishments and rewards to compel adherence to its preferred norm. The authority’s commitment is time-limited and depends on imperfectly informative signals of a citizen’ s behavior. Given two citizens with the same observed behavior, the authority imposes harsher punishments on the poorer and/or ex ante dissident individual. Lighter punishments are imposed on the wealthier citizen to prevent “overcompliance.” Wealth inequality increases over time. Some citizens become prosperous “lackeys” while others become destitute from confiscation. In stable regimes with high state capacity, the authority reduces punishments and/or increases rewards to allow citizens to accumulate wealth, leading to social conformity and balanced growth in the long run. In unstable regimes with low capacity, the citizenry splits into groups of wealthy lackeys and destitute proles.

In or outside the box? Citizen action between institutional and extra-institutional channels in Chinese environmental governance

ABSTRACT Authoritarian leaders around the world have recognized that citizen engagement is a core element of successful environmental governance. Faced with a massive environmental crisis, also authoritarian China is mobilizing its citizens to address its ecological problems. However, taking a functional approach to public participation, the Chinese party-state like other authoritarian regimes attempts to channel citizen action into institutional pathways and away from more contentious extra-institutional ones. Little research has investigated citizens’ reactions to such attempts. This paper analyses citizen participation between institutional and extra-institutional venues at the case of Chinese environmental governance. It finds that Chinese citizens use a mix of both channel types, but are overall more drawn to extra-institutional channels despite the risks. Moreover, our findings point to different motivations for the use of venues: personal grievances are more linked with the use of institutional channels, broader environmental concerns with extra-institutional ones. This shows, first, that channeling attempts have not yet been successful in crowding out noninstitutional channels. And second, that citizens seem to attach different meanings to the different channel types. This will make it hard for the Chinese and other authoritarian regimes to phase out extra-institutional action without severe losses for the effectiveness of environmental governance.

POLITICAL CONFLICT IN LAUT BERCERITA BY LEILA S. CHUDORI: INSIGHTS FROM NEW HISTORICISM

This research investigates the political conflict depicted in Leila S. Chudori's novel Laut Bercerita, focusing on the portrayal of the student’s movement and authoritarian regime dominated by military force in Indonesia during the New Order era. Drawing on the theories of Sociology of Literature and New Historicism, the study aims to analyze the socio-political dynamics embedded within the narrative. The qualitative descriptive method is employed to examine the text in-depth, considering its historical significance and literary merits. Through close textual analysis, the research reveals the intricate interplay between fiction and reality, shedding light on the experiences of activists and the repressive tactics of the regime. The novel vividly captures the determination, struggles, and sacrifices of student activists as they challenge authoritarian rule, providing valuable insights into Indonesia's socio-political landscape. Additionally, the study explores the ways in which literature serves as a vehicle for social critique and historical remembrance, emphasizing the enduring relevance of Chudori's work in contemporary discourse. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of Indonesian history and literature, underscoring the importance of literature as a tool for socio-political commentary and cultural preservation.

Metaphorical framing of political events through ENTERTAINMENT scenarios

Abstract The article sets out to examine the entertainment source domain and its scenarios as realised in the media discourse surrounding political events in Belarus in 2021. Metaphorical scenarios are investigated considering different viewpoints, such as those presented in Lithuanian, German, and Russian media. The methodological framework is a blend of Cognitive Linguistics and Critical Discourse Studies, embracing the viewpoint (Sweetser, 2012), Critical Metaphor Analysis (Charteris-Black, 2005), metaphorical scenarios (Musolff, 2016), and framing (Hart, 2014). The results demonstrate that the entertainment domain acquires multiple scenarios depending on the viewpoint. The evaluation attached to the scenarios is mostly negative; however, the viewpoint adopted in Lithuanian and German discourses is very different from Russian discourse. The former is based on Western values and targets the authoritarian regime, whereas the latter is Russian-centric, with the Western world posited as a major threat to the Belarusian and Russian societies.

Street protest in the first decade of illiberal Hungary: the case of Budapest

ABSTRACT The paper focuses on the anti-governmental protest movements in Budapest in a 10-year long period of the Orbán regime. A quantitative analysis of media reports reveals that the number of street protests remained significant, though with a decreasing intensity in the second half of the period. Empirical evidence on the fragmented and diverse protests suggests that (1) democracy remains of high importance, which is the main issue of dissent in authoritarian regimes; (2) national issues dominate the protests in Budapest due to the centralization of politics, and (3) western-type post-materialist issues are visible elements of the protest culture.

From Fivefold to Five-in-One Ministry: Mega-Ecclesiological Leadership (Dis)Continuities in Southern Africa

In Southern Africa in recent years, the governance and ecclesiologies of mega-Pentecostal churches have been drifting away from upholding collective and complementary fivefold ministries to individualistic and selfish five-in-one ministries. Studies indicate that a fivefold ministry advances inclusive ecclesiological leadership, edification, and transformational integral mission. At present, mega and related forms of emerging neo-Pentecostalism have developed exclusive, prophetic, apostolic, and executive ecclesial leadership, which are characterized mainly by authoritarian governance, celebrity leadership, leader-centered ecclesiology, and congregational manipulation and exploitation. Such church governance and ecclesiologies enable leaders to indoctrinate their subordinates and congregants to submit to and depend on them for everything. The effect is that followers are rendered dormant, under what this submission describes as five-in-one ministry, which leaves one person claiming to possess all ministerial gifts and leadership capabilities and relegating everyone else to being idle followers. Although much has been published about African Pentecostal leadership and ecclesiologies, studies on African megachurch governance, leadership styles and ministries are few. Through a literature review and participant observation, this paper uncovers and troubleshoots the effects of five-in-one megachurch governance and ecclesiologies in Africa. It discerns and addresses drivers of the five-in-one ministry and makes recommendations, such as reforming megachurch governance, leadership styles, and ecclesiologies; integrating ecumenism with leadership development; and developing inclusive economic sustainability.

Queering algorithms: LGBTQ+ content creators’ non-conforming and non-confronting workarounds to digital normativity in China

Popular social media platforms in China, such as Bilibili, Douyin, and Xiaohongshu (REDnote), use machine learning algorithms to curate personalized feeds and enforce content moderation. But the opacity of such algorithms introduces socially consequential and often problematic mechanisms of classification. Given the playful resistance of queer individuals against a normative social environment, the interaction between algorithms and content creators warrants close examination. This study investigates how LGBTQ+ content creators navigate these algorithm-driven platforms, focusing on their negotiation of digital normativity to share non-heterosexual content and foster queer sociality in China. Avoiding the oversimplification of viewing algorithms and those implementing them as monolithic entities, I explore how content creators creatively manage to produce and distribute their work within the constraints of these platforms, and even by playing with these constraints. I collected data from an ethnography on algorithms, interviews, and an open-source investigation into recommendation algorithms, through a scavenge approach. I argue that LGBTQ+ content creators engage with algorithms in ways that are simultaneously non-conforming and non-confrontational. They imagine algorithmic effects, appropriate outcomes, and play with the opacity of machine learning to navigate three aspects of digital normativity in China: heteronormativity, Internet civilization, and commercialization. Empirically, I identified three strategies used to create and expand queer sociality within these constraints: camouflaging, filtering, and verticalizing. Theoretically, I introduce ‘workarounds’ as a framework that transcends the binary perspectives of conformity and resistance in discussions of authoritarian governance, algorithmic control, and user-platform interaction.

Can Autocracy Handle Climate Change?

ABSTRACT Existing literature on climate politics predominantly concentrates on democracies. However, there is a pressing need to examine how authoritarian regimes respond to climate change, given their growing impact on global carbon emissions and their populations’ acute climate vulnerability. Extant research often assumes that authoritarian regimes have inherent advantages in addressing climate change, leading to overly optimistic perspectives on their capabilities. This study highlights the necessity of qualifying those assumptions and evaluates the comparative advantages and disadvantages of autocracies relative to democracies throughout the policy process: policy formulation (or outputs), implementation, and outcomes. I argue that whereas climate-conscious autocracies may efficiently produce policy outputs based on scientific evidence, they often face more challenges related to information about local enforcement during implementation. This may result in greater hurdles than democracies, even with adequate state capacity and monitoring infrastructure. Furthermore, this analysis contends that a country’s developmental stage, rather than its regime type, is related more directly to the effectiveness of translating implementation efforts into tangible policy outcomes. Therefore, this article posits that the political science discourse, which often juxtaposes democracies with autocracies, should expand its scope to better understand how a country’s developmental level influences the success of its climate strategies.

Candles of Change: Nonviolent Resistance in Sudan

Overthrowing dictatorial regimes presents a formidable challenge, as these governments often maintain tight control over state mechanisms and media narratives; this paper explores the concept of nonviolent resistance, particularly within the context of the Sudanese revolution, utilising a qualitative research methodology and gathers qualitative data through interviews and focus groups with key participants in the Sudanese nonviolent movements. These include secondary data from online reports from civil society organisations of members of Resistance Committees and women activists. It also examines the tactics and strategies employed by nonviolent movements, including sit-ins, media campaigns, and the strategic use of the “butterfly effect,” demonstrating how small, coordinated actions can lead to significant societal change. The paper concludes with recommendations to strengthen civil society, enhance the capacity of Resistance Committees, and ensure women’s continued participation in the political process. These measures are essential for preserving the revolution’s achievements and supporting Sudan’s transition towards a more democratic and peaceful future.

The Historical Roots behind the Libyan State Failure

Abstract This paper discusses the phenomenon of state failure in general and uses the current Libyan state as a case study by tracing the historical path of the formation of the modern Libyan state, specifically the impact of the legacy left by the Gaddafi regime on three main variables: authority, legitimacy, and institutional capacity. It addresses the following question: How did the historical legacy of the Gaddafi regime contribute to the crisis of the Libyan state after 2011? The study is based on the hypothesis that personal authoritarian regimes, such as Gaddafi’s, have the most detrimental impact on institutions in relation to the monopoly of violence, legitimacy, and capacity. This is because the ruling elites in personalistic authoritarian regimes are often unable to restrain the decisions and actions of the head of the regime, who often seeks to dismantle institutions that could limit their power. This contrasts with other types of authoritarian regimes (monarchy, military, one-party) that may, to some extent, maintain institutional rules for governance and the transfer of power.

Navigating Tensions between Authoritarian Governance and Human Rights: Towards a Business and Human Rights Regime within China’s Dual-State Context

ABSTRACT This article examines the intricate dynamics between authoritarian governance and human rights within the context of China’s evolving business and human rights (BHR) regime. Utilizing Ernst Fraenkel’s dual-state framework and new institutional theory, the study delves into the mechanisms through which China navigates the tensions between state control and the global human rights agenda. Through expert interviews and analysis of policy documents and digital media, the research uncovers the roles of government-organized non-governmental organizations, NGOs, and businesses in shaping China’s BHR landscape. The findings suggest that despite the challenges posed by China’s authoritarian system, institutional actors are taking a strategic and evolutionary approach to foster a BHR regime. This is characterized by a complex interplay between the normative and prerogative states, reflecting a nuanced adaptation of BHR principles within China’s political and legal framework. The article contributes to broader discourse on the integration of human rights into business practices in authoritarian contexts, offering insights into the potential for institutional change and the advancement of human rights within such regimes.

Shades of authoritarian digital sovereignty: divergences in Russian and Chinese data localisation regimes

ABSTRACT The concept of sovereignty is now referred to in cyberspace-related policy by a range of governments, both authoritarian and democratic. At the same time, the most prominent proponents of state – or sovereignty-centric models of internet governance are Russia and China, whose positions are often characterised as a shared ‘Sino-Russian’ model. This paper subjects this idea of a shared Sino-Russian approach to empirical scrutiny by conducting a comparative analysis of rules, regulations and policies on data localisation in both countries. By delimiting the research question to regulations on data localisation and cross-border data transfers in both countries, we identify an important set of similarities and differences between the Russian and Chinese approaches. They share some features associated with authoritarian regimes, such as uncertainty around the selective enforcement of broadly formulated rules and a centralised assessment of outbound data transfers. However, we also find significant differences in the level of institutional centralisation, degrees of responsiveness within the policymaking process, and economic logics driving data localisation and cross-border transfer regulations. Based on these findings, we argue that despite a perception that Russia and China adhere to a similar model of authoritarian digital sovereignty, there are significant disparities in their data localisation regimes.

Who Dominates the Coalition? Frame Salience and Public Support for Policy–Democracy Protest Coalitions under Authoritarian Rule

Abstract How does the public support a coalition in which pro-democracy advocates and policy-based protesters join forces in street protests? When policy-based and pro-democracy groups protest together, they create a collective action frame that includes a policy component and a democracy component. In this article, I develop the frame salience theory, arguing that support for a policy–democracy protest coalition depends on which component of the joint frame is perceived to be more dominant. I argue that in authoritarian regimes, the policy component typically dominates the coalition because it is more accessible and available to the public. This perception shifts public support for the alliance towards the baseline level of support for the policy movement. In other words, public support for the alliance defaults to the baseline level of support for the policy movement. I find evidence for my argument using a survey experiment administered to 1,209 Vietnamese respondents. This article highlights a dilemma pro-democracy groups face: joining policy-based movements may boost support, but sustaining democracy after the protest becomes challenging.