
Outsourcing Surveillance
Online Opinion Management in China
Cambridge University Press
Will be published approx. on 21. May 2026
Book
Hardback
80 pages
978-1-009-63197-6 (ISBN)
Description
The digital age has afforded the governments new technologies of control, allowing them to co-opt, pre-empt and repress dissent. But, what if they lack the technical capacity to access digital tools of control? In what ways have digital technologies altered the way governments conduct statecraft? Based on an analysis of more than 3,000 public procurement documents, and a dozen elite interviews with various stakeholders, we found that the Chinese state has outsourced various functions of online surveillance to private and for-profit arms of state-owned corporations. We found that outsourcing surveillance is intended to augment state technical capacity to moderate and fine-tune the conduct of digital repression. Outsourcing digital repression opens a Pandora's box of state-business collaborations. This Element contributes to the literature on outsourcing repression, state-business relations, and conduct of digital statecraft.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
ISBN-13
978-1-009-63197-6 (9781009631976)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
approx. 05/2026
Cambridge University Press
€22.27
Not yet published
Persons
Author
University of Toronto
Renmin University of China
University of Toronto
Content
Introduction; 1. Public opinion management in China; 2. Theoretical framework; 3. Data source, methodology, and descriptive statistics; 4. Empirical analysis; 5. Conclusion; References.