We are pleased to invite you to an upcoming lecture by Prof. Dr. Wolfram Schaffar, as part of the ongoing lecture series "The Many Faces of Digital Authoritarianism," organised by the ECPR Research Network on Digital Authoritarianism.

Lecture Title:  "Naming the Beast: The Question of Agency in Social Media and Platformization Studies on Authoritarianism"

Abstract:

It is evident that platforms and social media play a central role in the rise of authoritarian forms of rule. The election of Trump in the USA in 2016 and 2024, the success of Duterte in the Philippines in 2016, the continued success of right-wing movements in Japan, and the rise of the AfD in Germany are each associated with specific platforms or social media. However, these analyzes raise the fundamental question of agency: Can these successes be attributed to the fact that certain actors use platforms to spread their political agendas? Or do the technical specifications and economic rationality of the respective platforms themselves contribute to polarization and authoritarian developments? There is an ongoing debate on this in the literature (Grohmann and Ong, 2024, special issue on Disinformation-for-Hire as Everyday Digital Labor). In my presentation, I will outline this debate and illustrate it with examples from Thailand, Myanmar, and China. I will argue that, contrary to many analyzes which emphasize structural and technical determinism, surprising turns of events in political developments suggest that we should not underestimate the agency of political actors.

Date and Time: TBA

Moderator:  Dr. Ülker Sözen - University of Passau & Leipzig University

Meeting Access (Zoom) : https://ecpr-eu.zoom.us/j/82507059092?pwd=CA5VidnXza79M0jARdUooaoXuqHNKZ.1 

Meeting ID: 825 0705 9092

Passcode: 550859

Join us for this engaging session and be part of the ongoing conversation on digital authoritarianism.