Media and Democratization

The news media can either support or undermine non-democratic regimes. This tension between media liberalization and political control is well-captured in Yuezhi Zhao’s book Communication in China: Political Economy, Power and Conflict, which will serve as a thematic anchor for this course. We will examine the impact of print, television, and new media on democratization in Eastern Europe, East Asia, and Africa, while drawing from the literature on democratic transitions and the communications literature on media effects. The goal of the course is to understand the causes of press freedom, its role in the erosion of state control, and its implications for the survival of authoritarian regimes. 3 hrs. sem. (Comparative Politics)/