Access Denied: Control And Restriction Strategies Of The Internet In Hybrid Regimes

Official URL: https://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b3201380

This thesis aim to explain the control and restriction strategies used by authoritarian regimes, with a specific focus on hybrid regimes. The different techniques used by authoritarian regimes to cope with the Internet are analyzed into two groups; restrictive and proactive strategies. The repertoire of these two categories is explained with a case study of Turkey, and it is seen that regimes use both of these strategies when a due occasion occurs. In times of national crises, and critical political junctures like elections are the period where the restrictive strategies are used mostly, whereas the proactive strategies constitute the de facto stamce of the regime. Furthermore, the relationship between the elections and restrictive strategies is tested with both a cross country and a single country analysis. As a result, partial evidence is found supporting the main argument that regimes have a higher likelihood to use the restrictive strategies during pre-election period.