Variegated digital state repression in Central Asia

Abstract Existing research on digital activism in autocratic regimes tends to treat Central Asia as a homogenous entity with similar approaches to how new digital technologies are used for the purposes of state repression. Drawing on Feldstein's taxonomy of digital repression and new empirical evidence, this essay shows that digital state repression varies across the region. The presented findings add to current scholarship in three ways. First, we consider different forms of autocracies within Central Asia as a differentiated geography. Second, we examine the factors which led to a shift in how technologies could be used by autocracies as policy instruments to control their citizens. Third, given the growth of technological innovations that can sustain autocracies, we examine the specific mix of technologies within the different types of autocracies that shape the strategies of repression in Central Asia. The research presents a variegated picture of digitally‐enabled deepening autocratization in Central Asia.