This thesis is an examination of the evolution of tech-assisted repression in Putin's Russia. The thesis uses a novel analytical framework called the T.E.A. table framework, which organizes repression into three categories: techniques (the repressive acts themselves), effects (short-to-medium term individual and communal effects), and arcs (large-scale societal shifts over long periods of time). This framework is "tested" against two influential texts in the study of non-democratic politics: The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt and Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes by Juan Jose Linz. The following chapters look at the techniques, effects, and arcs of television-based repression, social media-based repression, and finally artificial intelligence-based repression. As these technologies have been introduced, there has been a consisted trend toward centralization, control, and increasing the granularity, or the personalization and adaptability, of repression. / Master of Arts / Authoritarianism is a form of government that opposes democratic values such as freedom of speech, the right to free and fair elections, and checks and balances. Repression is a term that entails the many ways that an authoritarian leader tries to consolidate power without regard for freedoms or rights. Many authoritarian countries in the modern world use technology to help keep control over their citizens. This thesis looks at how different technologies have been used by an authoritarian regime, in this case Russia under Vladimir Putin, in order to maintain control and restrict civil liberties and political rights. The technologies being looked at are television, social media, and artificial intelligence. The main findings are that these technologies are all being used in very different ways in order to reach some end goals: increased control over the activities of citizens, an increased amount of repressive technology in the country, and an increased amount of personalization in the repression citizens interact with, because personalized repression is more effective than non-personalized repression.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/118996 |
| Date | 15 May 2024 |
| Creators | Erickson, Landon Guy |
| Contributors | Political Science, Pula, Besnik, Thomas, Courtney Irene Powell, Binev, Binio S. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf, application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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