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In "Repression in the Digital Age", Anita R. Gohdes provides an in-depth look into the relationship between digital technologies and state violence. Drawing on original data, Gohdes argues that mass access to the Internet presents governments who fear for their political survival with a set of response options, which in turn support different forms of violence by state forces. As digital communication has become a bedrock of modern opposition and protest movements, Repression in the Digital Age breaks new ground in examining state repression in the information age.

The role of the Internet in contemporary violent conflicts is receiving increasing scholarly attention. In this article, I review some of the pioneering studies that investigate how the emergence and penetration of modern communication technology across the world influences violent conflicts. Building on these important findings, I propose four entry points for future research. First, research on the link between the Internet and violent conflict needs to account for the profound changes the Internet has undergone in past decades, as well as the extent to which its nature is becoming increasingly endogenous to local contexts. Second, little is currently known about the effects of communication technology in violent conflict that move beyond initial mobilization. Third, architectural and algorithmic designs of social media platforms heavily influence the possibilities and constraints of human interactions on the Internet, but to date remain understudied. Fourth, further studies are needed to understand how the Internet has changed how violent conflict is communicated and portrayed both online and offline.

AbstractThis article offers a first subnational analysis of the relationship between states' dynamic control of Internet access and their use of violent repression. I argue that where governments provide Internet access, surveillance of digital information exchange can provide intelligence that enables the use of more targeted forms of repression, in particular in areas not fully controlled by the regime. Increasing restrictions on Internet accessibility can impede opposition organization, but they limit access to information on precise targets, resulting in an increase in untargeted repression. I present new data on killings in the Syrian conflict that distinguish between targeted and untargeted events, using supervised text classification. I find that higher levels of Internet accessibility are associated with increases in targeted repression, whereas areas with limited access experience more indiscriminate campaigns of violence. The results offer important implications on how governments incorporate the selective access to communication technology into their strategies of coercion.

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The role of the Internet in contemporary violent conflicts is receiving increasing scholarly attention. In this article, I review some of the pioneering studies that investigate how the emergence and penetration of modern communication technology across the world influences violent conflicts. Building on these important findings, I propose four entry points for future research. First, research on the link between the Internet and violent conflict needs to account for the profound changes the Internet has undergone in past decades, as well as the extent to which its nature is becoming increasingly endogenous to local contexts. Second, little is currently known about the effects of communication technology in violent conflict that move beyond initial mobilization. Third, architectural and algorithmic designs of social media platforms heavily influence the possibilities and constraints of human interactions on the Internet, but to date remain understudied. Fourth, further studies are needed to understand how the Internet has changed how violent conflict is communicated and portrayed both online and offline.

New media outlets have been deemed a vital instrument for protesters and opposition groups to coordinate activities in the recent civilian uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa. But what happens when regimes respond by shutting down the internet? I argue that governments have a strategic incentive to implement internet blackouts in conjunction with larger repressive operations against violent opposition forces. Short-term intermissions in communication channels are expected to decrease opposition groups' capabilities to successfully coordinate and implement attacks against the state, allowing regime forces to strengthen their position. Network blackouts should consequently be accompanied by significant increases in military activity. Analyzing daily documented killings by the government in the Syrian civil war, I find that blackouts occur in conjunction with significantly higher levels of state repression, most notably in areas where government forces are actively fighting violent opposition groups. In addition, I estimate the number of undocumented conflict fatalities prior to and during network blackouts to test whether they are implemented to hide atrocities from outside observers, and find no support for this hypothesis. The results indicate that such network blackouts constitute a part of the military's strategy to target and weaken opposition groups, where the underreporting of violence is not systematically linked to outages.

We address weaknesses in the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) Battle Deaths Dataset, and as a result draw contradicting conclusions to those presented by Lacina and Gleditsch. Our analysis focuses on the availability of data on battle deaths within specific conflict-years and problems encountered when data from multiple types of sources are combined. We repeat Lacina, Gleditsch, and Russett's analysis of battle deaths over time, with an attempt to provide a more robust model and incorporate an estimate of the uncertainty present in the PRIO Battle Deaths Dataset. This reanalysis reveals that the data used to establish the PRIO Battle Deaths Dataset does not offer a clear answer as to whether battle deaths have decreased or increased since the end of the Second World War. We contend that while the PRIO Battle Deaths Dataset offers the most comprehensive assembly of battle deaths data available to date, it is not suitable for analysis across countries or over time. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright holder.]