Undergraduate Course: Digital Media and the Global Growth of Authoritarianism (PLIT10198)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | How do authoritarian states use media to legitimise their rule and deter dissent? How do the strategies they use differ from one another, and relate to national and international audiences? In addition, how do the approaches to mediation taken by full authoritarian states differ from competitive authoritarian countries, in which governments tilt the electoral playing field in their favour whilst maintaining a democratic façade? Drawing from research in computational propaganda, journalism studies, and political communication, this course explores the varied, sophisticated, and often covert tactics that different kinds of authoritarian states use to control mediated political discourse, as well as analysing how media actors use their agency to navigate them. |
| Course description |
By focusing on full and competitive authoritarian states, the course reflects the increasing rarity of full democracies globally, as well as shedding new light on the dynamics of de-democratisation. Half of the course will examine the relationship between media and competitive authoritarian states experiencing de-democratisation, such as Hungary, Turkey and India, as well as analysing the extent to which mediation in the US now resembles these states. The other half of the course will focus on the government strategies and agentive practices of media actors in full authoritarian countries, like China, Russia, Rwanda, North Korea, and Saudi Arabia.
Topics may include the differences between the authoritarian and the illiberal public sphere; media capture and journalistic complicity; mediated forms of post-truth politics; and digital authoritarianism, including the varied uses of state-controlled bots, trolls, AI and algorithmic manipulation. The course will be taught using lectures and tutorials.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have at least four Politics/IR courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). Only university/college level courses will be considered |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand the various media strategies used by full authoritarian states, as well as the agentive practices of media actors in those contexts.
- Differentiate the media strategies used by competitive authoritarian states, as well as the agentive practices of media actors in those contexts.
- Evaluate the merits of various critical approaches to the relationship between media and authoritarianism.
- Plan, organise, and write up their independent research about media and authoritarianism effectively.
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Reading List
Baggott-Carter, E and Carter, B.L. (2023). Propaganda in Autocracies: Institutions, Information, and the Politics of Belief. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2023).
Dukalskis, A (2017). The Authoritarian Public Sphere: Legitimation and Autocratic Power in North Korea, Burma and China. London: Routledge.
Levitsky, S and Way, L (2010) Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes after the Cold War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Stetka, V and Mihelj, S (2024) The Illiberal Public Sphere: Media in Polarized Societies. London: Palgrave
Yesil, B. (2016). Media in New Turkey: The Origins of an Authoritarian Neoliberal State. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Analytical and critical thinking
Handling complexity and ambiguity
Planning, organising and time management
Team working inter-personal skills
Ethics and social responsibility
Independent learning and development
Cross-cultural communication
Effective written and verbal communication |
| Keywords | journalism,social media,authoritarian,autocracy,hybrid regime,AI,de-democratisation |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Kate Wright
Tel: (0131 6)51 1480
Email: Kate.Wright@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | |
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