Internet and Authoritarian Regime Trust

• In Event: New Insights on the Internet and Authoritarian Rule in China

Abstract

This paper will look into the debate on technology and authoritarian regime legitimacy in China. The current literature on the digital impact on authoritarian regime legitimacy is divided into two groups. One group finds the liberalization effect of digital technology while the other shows the consolidation of authoritarian rule with the development of new technology. This paper will show how internet is used by Chinese citizens, including official vs. social media channels, degree of involvement, and content of internet usage. It will then examine the impact of internet activities on the survey respondents’ political attitudes, particularly their trust in the Chinese government and its policies. It will also examine the causal relationship between media and political attitude. Specifically, it will look at the separate effects of official media and social media and how they are causally related to the survey respondents’ political attitude and behavior. The paper will draw data from the 2018 China Internet Survey.

Author

• Wenfang Tang, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology