Political competition in the age of surveillance capitalism

Official URL: https://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b2748967_(Table of contents)

This thesis has written to illustrate the impact of un-regulated Surveillance Capitalism in liberal democracies. Surveillance Capitalism refers to the business model of technology platforms and social media companies. In this thesis, the Surveillance Capitalism business model in liberal democracies is used to drive implications for politics. In line with the democratic backsliding literature, four casual mechanisms are formulized that potentially deteriorate the qualities of democratic governance in liberal democracies. The mechanisms are quality of competition, foreign interference, disinformation, and political polarization. The mechanisms affect the qualities associated with democratic politics; they are not decisive in triggering democratic backsliding. This thesis used the 2016 U.S. Presidential election and BREXIT as cases to illustrate how foreign and domestic actors use digital platforms for deteriorating the qualities of democratic governance. The findings suggest that unregulated Surveillance Capitalism can trigger a new form of democratic backsliding in liberal democracies by eroding the democratic norms. Also, this thesis is among the few scholarly articles that tie the Surveillance Capitalism framework to democratic backsliding literature. One of the primary contributions of this thesis will be showing the non-state actors role in triggering democratic backsliding, thus covering a vital gap in democratic backsliding literature.