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Civil Society 2.0?: How the Internet Changes State-Society Relations in Authoritarian Regimes: The Case of Cuba

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  • Hoffmann, Bert

Abstract

In the debate over the role of civil society under authoritarian regimes, the spread of transnational web-based media obliges us the rethink the arenas in which the societal voice can be raised - and heard. Taking the case of state-socialist Cuba, a diachronic comparison analyzes civil society dynamics prior to the Internet - in the early to mid-1990s, and a decade later, after digital and web-based media made their way onto the island. The study finds that in the pre-Internet period, the focus was on behind-the-scenes struggles for associatational autonomy within the state-socialist framework. A decade later, web-based communication technologies have supported the emergence of a new type of puclic sphere in which the civil society debate is marked by autonomous citizen action. While this defies the socialist regime's design of state-society relations, its effect on democratization depends on the extent to which a web-based voice connects with off-line public debate and social action.

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  • Hoffmann, Bert, 2011. "Civil Society 2.0?: How the Internet Changes State-Society Relations in Authoritarian Regimes: The Case of Cuba," GIGA Working Papers 156, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:gigawp:156
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    Cited by:

    1. Hoffmann, Bert, 2011. "The International Dimensions of Authoritarian Legitimation: The Impact of Regime Evolution," GIGA Working Papers 182, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    2. Ted A. Henken & Sjamme van de Voort, 2013. "From Nada to Nauta: Internet Access and Cyber-Activism in A Changing Cuba," Annual Proceedings, The Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy, vol. 23.
    3. Anh, Vu Ngoc, 2017. "Civil society activism in authoritarian contexts : (re)structuring state-society relations in Vietnam," OSF Preprints rh9cg, Center for Open Science.

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