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Direct link to paper:
http://www.ceip.org/files/Publications/wp21.asp
*********
From: "Julie Shaw" <jshawat_private>
Subject: China,Cuba,Internet Counterrevolution
Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 13:13:38 -0700
China, Cuba, and the Internet Counterrevolution
New Working Paper Challenges Assumption that the
Internet Defies Authoritarian Control
A new Carnegie Endowment working paper finds that, contrary to conventional
wisdom, the Internet does not necessarily spell the demise of authoritarian
rule. Examining the cases of China and Cuba, Shanthi Kalathil and Taylor C.
Boas, two Carnegie information revolution experts, show that authoritarian
regimes can actually maintain control over the Internet s political impact
and benefit from the technology. Read the full text at:
<http://www.ceip.org/pubs>http://www.ceip.org/>pubs
The Internet and State Control in Authoritarian Regimes:
China, Cuba, and the Counterrevolution
Working Paper No. 21, by Shanthi Kalathil and Taylor C. Boas
Cuba and China represent two extremes of authoritarian Internet control:
Cuba has sought to limit the medium s political effects by carefully
circumscribing access to the Internet, while China has promoted widespread
access and relied on content filtering, monitoring, deterrence, and
self-censorship. These choices of strategy reflect a more fundamental
difference between the two regimes levels of economic liberalization. China
has promoted widespread Internet access to capitalize on the economic
potential of a booming information sector and technologically savvy
workforce, while Cuba, less committed to a market economy, has been willing
to forgo some of the Internet s potential economic benefits.
Kalathil and Boas show that China and Cuba, despite their strategy
differences, have effectively limited use of the Internet to challenge the
government. Beijing, for instance, has responded harshly to the Falun Gong
s use of the Internet with a series of technological measures, restrictive
laws, and well-publicized crackdowns, making it more difficult for
followers to communicate. Havana has carefully meted out access among civil
society organizations according to their political orientation while
dissident and human rights organizations have little hope of even gaining
access. Both governments have also been successful in making extensive use
of the Internet as a propaganda tool, partly by setting up their own web
sites to disseminate the official government line.
In a field where scholarly work has only begun to tread, this working paper
sets out a framework for analyzing the Internet strategies of different
authoritarian regimes, and helps to shed light on the impact of the
Internet on authoritarian rule in general.
Shanthi Kalathil, associate in the Information Revolution and World
Politics Project at the Carnegie Endowment, has written extensively on
Chinese market reforms and the political impact of the information revolution.
Taylor C. Boas, project associate in the Information Revolution and World
Politics Project, has published several articles on the impact of the
Internet in authoritarian regimes, with particular emphasis on Cuba.
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