The Authoritarian Public Sphere ─ Legitimation and Autocratic Power in North Korea, Burma, and China

Authoritarian regimes craft and disseminate reasons, stories, and explanations for why they are entitled to rule. To shield those justifications from criticism, authoritarian regimes also censor information that they find threatening. While committed opponents of the regime may be violently repressed, this book is about how the authoritarian state keeps the majority of its people quiescent by manipulating the ways in which they talk and think about politics. Using North Korea, Burma (Myanmar) and China as case studies, this book explains how the authoritarian public sphere shapes political discourse in each context and examines three domains of potential subversion of ruling ideologies: the shadow markets of North Korea, networks of independent journalists in Burma/Myanmar, and the online sphere in China.

Drawing on empirical interview data, as well as close examination of state-produced media, speeches, and legislation, this book will be of huge interest to students and scholars of Asian politics, comparative politics and authoritarian regimes.

Alexander Dukalskis is Lecturer in the?School of Politics?and International Relations at University College Dublin, Ireland.