Technology and protest in autocracies: roles of platforms, regimes, and activists
- Date: 14 March 2023, 15:15–17:00
- Location: IRES Library, Gamla torget 3, 3rd floor
- Type: Seminar
- Lecturer: Alesia Rudnik
- Organiser: Institute for Russian and Eurasian Studies (IRES)
- Contact person: Michael Watson-Conneely
Abstract
With the development of technology, politics, decision-making, and communication shifted towards new social networking platforms expanding political repertoire of pro-democratic movements and autocratic regimes. For the last decade, some scholars have been arguing that the development of technology and its spreading to authoritarian countries impacts democratization. Other scholars have debated it researching how autocratic regimes enhance and improve their usage of technology. The interaction of material worlds, technological advancements, and human capital during protest episodes in autocracies lies in the focus of this doctoral thesis. Through the lens of science and technology studies, actor-network theory in particular, I follow the steps of actors within sophisticated socio-technical networks that emerged in Belarus on the eve of post-electoral protests. The thesis focuses on Belarus and Russia, two authoritarian states where Telegram and TikTok were recently activated for large-scale protests, in August 2020 and in January 2021. During the presentation, I will share the results of analysis of protest-related content on Telegram and TikTok, as well as share preliminary reflections on the interviews with Belarusian protest participants, activists, and Telegram channels' editors who were active during the protests in Belarus in 2020.
Speaker Bio
Alesia Rudnik – is a PhD Candidate in political science at Karlstad University, where she is also teaching A and B courses in political science and social movements, guest researcher at IRES (Uppsala University). Alesia's research focuses on protests as a form of political participation and the role of social networking platforms and technology in social movements in autocratic countries. The main interest lies in the region of Eastern Europe. Alesia is also affiliated with the Belarusian independent think tank Center for New Ideas.
The event will be held in a hybrid format via Zoom for those unable to attend in person.
Zoom: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/65286735252