Automating Governance in China?
Data-Driven Systems in the Scoring Society
Published on 18. June 2025
Book
Hardback
270 pages
978-90-8728-465-7 (ISBN)
Description
This book considers the interplay between the affordances of technologies, the experiences and processes of technological systems, and the process of learning and adaptation by state actors as part of governance reform in China. It offers detailed studies of specific projects and applications that are automated or quasi-automated in organising and governing social, economic, and cultural lives in the world's largest techno-authoritarian regime. Written by scholars from six countries across four continents, case studies illustrate new modes of digital governance employed by the Chinese government, as it interacts and collaborates with technology companies, ordinary citizens, and other key stakeholders. They offer new insights on the deployment of automated decision-making in authoritarian governance, and on its application and implementation in real-life scenarios. In a broader sense, the book contributes to global debates about the integration of decision-making technologies in governmental practices.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Amsterdam
Netherlands
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
8 s/w Abbildungen
8 Illustrations, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-90-8728-465-7 (9789087284657)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Haiqing Yu is a Professor of Media and Communication and an Australian Research Council Future Fellow at RMIT University, Australia. She is a critical media studies scholar with expertise on Chinese digital media, technologies and cultures, with a focus on their sociopolitical impacts in China, Australia and the Asia Pacific.
Rogier Creemers is an Associate Professor in the Law and Governance of China at Leiden University. His research investigates China's domestic technology policies, as well as China's participation in global cyber affairs. He is a founding member of DigiChina, a project run in cooperation with New America, as well as a frequent contributor to international news media.
Rogier Creemers is an Associate Professor in the Law and Governance of China at Leiden University. His research investigates China's domestic technology policies, as well as China's participation in global cyber affairs. He is a founding member of DigiChina, a project run in cooperation with New America, as well as a frequent contributor to international news media.
Content
1. Automating Governance and Data-Driven Scoring in China: A Critical Introduction - Haiqing Yu and Rogier Creemers;
2. Locating and Localising Automated Decision-Making Failures in China - Xin Dai;
3. A Democratic Ethos? Explorations of Blockchains and Governance in China - Warwick Powell;
4. Techno-Utopia or Techno-Trap? Unveiling the Enigma of Smart Courts in China's Judicial Reform - Fan Yang;
5. Balancing Control and Engagement: China's Sociotechnical Imaginary in Facial Recognition Technology - Xin Gu, Gavin Smith, Neil Selwyn, Mark Andrejevic, and Chris O'Neil;
6. The Social Credit System as a Law-Enforcing Tool: Pillars of Local Implementations - Haemin Jee;
7. Scientific Fairness: Experimentation and Critique of Points Systems in Shenzhen - Anne-Christine Tremon;
8. Queer Social Sorting: Control and Criminalization in China's LGBTQ Activism - Ausma Bernot;
9. Regulating Price Discrimination on Chinese Digital Platforms - Haiqing Yu and Xuanzi Xu;
10. The Algorithmic Divide in China and an Emerging Comparative Research Agenda - Peter Yu
2. Locating and Localising Automated Decision-Making Failures in China - Xin Dai;
3. A Democratic Ethos? Explorations of Blockchains and Governance in China - Warwick Powell;
4. Techno-Utopia or Techno-Trap? Unveiling the Enigma of Smart Courts in China's Judicial Reform - Fan Yang;
5. Balancing Control and Engagement: China's Sociotechnical Imaginary in Facial Recognition Technology - Xin Gu, Gavin Smith, Neil Selwyn, Mark Andrejevic, and Chris O'Neil;
6. The Social Credit System as a Law-Enforcing Tool: Pillars of Local Implementations - Haemin Jee;
7. Scientific Fairness: Experimentation and Critique of Points Systems in Shenzhen - Anne-Christine Tremon;
8. Queer Social Sorting: Control and Criminalization in China's LGBTQ Activism - Ausma Bernot;
9. Regulating Price Discrimination on Chinese Digital Platforms - Haiqing Yu and Xuanzi Xu;
10. The Algorithmic Divide in China and an Emerging Comparative Research Agenda - Peter Yu