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Online Social Media and Political Awareness in Authoritarian Regimes

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  • Reuter, Ora John
  • Szakonyi, David

Abstract

Do online social media undermine authoritarianism? The conditions under which online social networks can increase public awareness of electoral fraud in non-democracies are examined in this article and it is argued that a given online social network will only increase political awareness if it is first politicized by elites. Survey data from the 2011 Russian parliamentary elections show that usage of Twitter and Facebook, which were politicized by opposition elites, significantly increased respondents’ perceptions of electoral fraud, while usage of Russia's domestic social networking platforms, VKontakte and Odnoklassniki, which were not politicized by opposition activists, had no effect on perceptions of fraud. This study elucidates the causes of post-election protest by uncovering a mechanism through which knowledge of electoral fraud spreads.

Suggested Citation

  • Reuter, Ora John & Szakonyi, David, 2015. "Online Social Media and Political Awareness in Authoritarian Regimes," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 45(1), pages 29-51, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:bjposi:v:45:y:2015:i:01:p:29-51_00
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Ruben Enikolopov & Alexey Makarin & Maria Petrova, 2020. "Social Media and Protest Participation: Evidence From Russia," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 88(4), pages 1479-1514, July.
    2. Thomas F. Remington & Andrei A. Yakovlev & Elena Ovchinnikova & Alexander Chasovsky, 2020. "Career Trajectories Of Regional Officials: Russia And China Before And After 2012," HSE Working papers WP BRP 754/PS/2020, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    3. Frye, Timothy & Borisova, Ekaterina, 2016. "Elections, protest and trust in government: A natural experiment from Russia," BOFIT Discussion Papers 9/2016, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    4. Anna Karpova & Aleksei Savelev & Alexander Vilnin & Sergey Kuznetsov, 2022. "Method for Detecting Far-Right Extremist Communities on Social Media," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-19, May.
    5. Hojun Choi, 2020. "The Modern Online Democracy: An Evaluation of Social Media's Ability to Facilitate Political Discourse," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 12(1), pages 277-289, October.
    6. Bharati, Tushar & Jetter, Michael & Malik, Muhammad Nauman, 2024. "Types of communications technology and civil conflict," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    7. David Szakonyi & Ora John Reuter, 2020. "Electoral Manipulation and Regime Support: Survey Evidence from Russia," Working Papers 2020-19, The George Washington University, Institute for International Economic Policy.
    8. RezaeeDaryakenari, Babak & Özdamar, Özgür & Akbaba, Yasemin, 2024. "Battle of Sects? Iran and Saudi Arabia’s Role Conflict in the MENA," OSF Preprints rt2pb, Center for Open Science.
    9. Sendhil Mullainathan & Andrei Shleifer, 2005. "The Market for News," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(4), pages 1031-1053, September.
    10. Nora A. Kirkizh & Olessia Y. Koltsova, 2018. "Online News and Protest Participation in a Political Context: Evidence from Self-Reported Cross-Sectional Data," HSE Working papers WP BRP 58/PS/2018, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    11. Lian Tang & Siti Zobidah Omar & Jusang Bolong & Julia Wirza Mohd Zawawi, 2021. "Social Media Use Among Young People in China: A Systematic Literature Review," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(2), pages 21582440211, May.
    12. Scott Williamson & Mashail Malik, 2021. "Contesting narratives of repression: Experimental evidence from Sisi’s Egypt," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 58(5), pages 1018-1033, September.
    13. David Szakonyi, 2020. "Candidate Filtering: The Strategic Use of Electoral Fraud in Russia," Working Papers 2020-23, The George Washington University, Institute for International Economic Policy.
    14. Zhou, Yonghong, 2023. "Influence of political movement on fields of study: Evidence from Hong Kong," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).

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