In person icon Digital Transformations and Democratic Backsliding

Abstract

In recent years, the comparative study of political regimes is confronted with two parallel phenomena: continuous technological – particularly digital – innovation and its effect on dynamics and processes of political rule, and a general deterioration in the quality of democracy around the globe. The study of "digital authoritarianism" has pointed towards an interaction between technology and different processes of democratic backsliding; this includes how digitization affects information environments of citizens, voting behavior, polarization, among others. Our knowledge of this multifaceted interaction is still burgeoning, and the increasing intertwinement of big tech and political power and anti-democratic actors is adding layers of interaction waiting to be uncovered. This panel presents diverse, and comparative, engagements with the nexus between digital technologies and democratic backsliding in different regions; the contributions open horizons for further research in this nexus.

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