Report Authors:
China: The Commercialization of Censorship
Confucius Institutes: Authoritarian Soft Power
Included Files
CHINA: RESILIENT, SOPHISTICATED AUTHORITARIANISM
FINDINGS
- The Chinese authorities have forged a multifaceted and increasingly sophisticated set of policies to undermine democratic development. These policies are comprehensive, encompassing the political, legal, social, and media spheres.
- The CCP has deliberately stoked and shaped Chinese nationalism, and many residents now feel pride in the CCP’s model of authoritarian development. The party’s “thoughtwork” to this end has come to include, in addition to censorship, the fashioning of textbooks, television documentaries, museums, and other media that spread seriously distorted versions of Chinese history. In a related effort to guide the public’s thinking, the word democracy has been twisted beyond recognition and stripped of the values that have traditionally defined it.
- While the blunt instruments of media control—harassment, intimidation, and imprisonment— are still used, the Chinese authorities have also developed more nuanced methods to manipulate content and induce self-censorship. These include the commercialization of censorship, through which the authorities effectively outsource censorship tasks to internet-service providers and other private actors. The regime has augmented its domestic media controls with an ambitious, multibillion-dollar plan to upgrade its overseas broadcasts.
- The Chinese government’s exertion of international influence expresses itself in several ways. There is one group of harsh regimes—including those of Sudan, Burma, Uzbekistan, North Korea, and Zimbabwe—whose leaders are seeking only financial assistance and protection from China at the United Nations and other international bodies. Another, more diverse group of developing countries across Asia, Latin America, and Africa are receptive to all elements of Chinese soft power. They are seeking economic, political, and cultural ties to China, and because they are not purely authoritarian states, China’s allure is allowed to extend to the public. These relationships can be more substantial than a simple alliance with an autocrat or ruling clique.
- The United States and other democracies need to be more aware of the workings of the CCP’s soft-power initiatives around the world, and particularly the ways in which they protect and promote authoritarian rule. Democratic states must ensure that diplomats heading to China, its neighbors, and other parts of the developing world are equipped to understand the goals and tactics of such soft-power programs. Where the Chinese enterprises promote authoritarianism, democratic envoys must have effective means of countering them. This work should not simply focus on China and Chinese projects, it should also remind the host countries’ officials and civil society of the virtues of democracy, the pitfalls of an authoritarian development model, and the dangers that would arise if such a model were actually “successful.”
June 4 2009 EVENT
On June 4, 2009, a high level conference in Washington DC launched the "Undermining Democracy: 21st Century Authoritarians" study.
IN THE NEWS
MEDIA
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