Democracy News

CCD Board Member Larry Diamond Discusses “Liberation Technology”
July 19, 2010
By: Randi Zung | Printer Friendly

In the July 2010 issue of the Journal of Democracy, CCD Board Member Larry Diamond discusses the growing importance of “liberation technology” as a vital tool that activists can use to challenge authoritarian governments.  According to Diamond, “liberation technology” is any new technology (for example, the internet) that works to “empower individuals, facilitate independent communication and mobilization and strengthen civil society.”  Diamond also identifies that liberation technology is “any form of information or communication technology that can be used by activists to expand political, social, and economic freedom.”

Diamond writes that liberation technologies, such as social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, allow individuals around the world to “report news, expose wrongdoing, express opinions, mobilize protest, monitor elections, scrutinize government, deepen participation, and expand the horizons of freedom.”  By using liberation technologies, users function as journalists because they can provide on-the-ground reports.  However, although liberation technologies have proven to be useful in social justice movements, Diamond also warns that authoritarian governments can use these technologies to disseminate pro-government propaganda. 

Although liberation technologies enable individuals to become a “collaborative force,” authoritarian governments – specifically China – work to limit the capacity of the internet through internet censorship.  By developing and using sophisticated censorship technologies to monitor online activity, the Chinese government has created what Diamond identifies as “an unparalleled system of digital censorship.”  Due to the fact that connecting to the internet is regulated by the state, China’s approximately 380 million users are subject to a complex system that examines all forms of electronic communication within the country. 

The Chinese government currently employs approximately 50,000 police officials that are dedicated to searching the internet for government-identified “harmful content” – including anything that expresses negative opinions about the state or anything that challenges the state’s authority.  Once “harmful content” has been identified, the state removes it from the internet within 24 to 48 hours.

Larry Diamond is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, where he also directs the Center for Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law.  He is the founding co-editor of the Journal of Democracy.  Diamond has edited or co-edited some 36 books on democracy, including the recent titles How People View Democracy, How East Asians View Democracy, Latin America’s Struggle for Democracy, Political Change in China: Comparisons with Taiwan, and Assessing the Quality of Democracy.

To read the full article, please see the July 2010 issue of the Journal of Democracy.

Diamond, Larry. “2010 Liberation Technology,” Journal of Democracy 21(3): 69-83.