P ontus Linnaeus University Dissertations No 200/2014 W allin Pontus Wallin Unexpected e Unexpected A uthoritarian Authoritarian collaboration f Unexpected efects of open government initiatives in China ects of open government initiatives in China in initiatives government open of ects collaboration linnaeus university press Authoritarian collaboration Unexpected effects of open government initiatives in China Linnaeus University Dissertations No 200/2014 AUTHORITARIAN COLLABORATION Unexpected effects of open government initiatives in China PONTUS WALLIN LINNAEUS UNIVERSITY PRESS Authoritarian collaboration. Unexpected effects of open government initiatives in China Doctoral dissertation, Department of political science, Linnaeus University, Växjö, Sweden, 2014 ISBN: 978-91-87925-29-0 Published by: Linnaeus University Press, 351 95 Växjö Printed by: Elanders Sverige AB, 2014 Abstract There is a recent emergence of open government initiatives for citizen participation in policy making in China. Open government initiatives seek to increase the level of participation, deliberation and transparency in govern- ment affairs, sometimes by use of Internet fora. In contemporary political science the introduction of these initiatives in authoritarian contexts has been described as a paradox of authoritarian deliberation. This thesis uses cybernetic theory, perspectives of information steering in all systems, to resolve the paradox and present a new view on authoritarianism and autocracy. A cybernetic definition of autocracy allows for an analysis of different types of autocracy in different models of governance. The theoretical tools developed are used to define and assess the potential for democratic autocracy, repre- sentative autocracy, deliberative autocracy and collaborative autocracy in online open government initiatives in China. The argument of the thesis is that these initiatives must be understood within the environment in which they are introduced. In the case of the Chinese online environment, individuals often have limited possibilities of acting anonymously. To explore how online identity registration affects citizens, a lab-in-the-field experiment was set up. Chinese university students were invited to engage with a government sponsored online forum under conditions of both anonymity and identity registration. Previous research suggests that anonymity would lead users of online fora to be more active and produce more content. This hypothesis was partly proven false by the experiment. This study shows that users who have their identities registered, sometimes even produce more content. The study also shows that registered users tend to act against their own preferences and participate more in nationalistic debates. The concluding discussion is focused on the wider implications of these effects. If citizens are incentivized to channel their dissatisfaction as loyalty, rather than voice or exit, they might become complicit in sustaining authoritarianism. Interviews with experiment participants show that open government initiatives primarily enable deliberative and collaborative autocracy when introduced in the Chinese online environment. This has the potential of increasing the amount of dissatisfaction that citizens channel as loyalty via mechanisms of authoritarian collaboration. Keywords Autocracy, authoritarian deliberation, cybernetics, open government initiatives, lab-in-the-field experiment, online anonymity, China Acknowledgements I have many people to thank for making this research possible. First of all, my supervisors Per Strömblad and Douglas Brommesson who have formed the most wonderful team to guide me through this project. I cannot begin to explain how much I value their creativity, sound judgment and constructive critique. I am also very thankful to all the staff and students at the department of political science at Linnaeus University. By now, I think all my colleagues have made utterly indispensable contributions. I would especially like to thank my three fellow doctoral student colleagues Amanda Nielsen, Mattias Gunnarsson and Anna-Karin Eriksson who have been great companions from day one. The motivation for writing this thesis comes from my experiences traveling across China in 2004, and later living in Beijing and Taipei 2007-2010. Without these experiences I would never have had the determination to finish this work. I am truly grateful to some of the amazing people I got to know during these years. Thank you to Christopher Weidacher Hsiung, Karl Gustafsson, Finn Hultin and many others who have encouraged me in my work. I would also like to thank the Swedish Institute, Taipei Mission in Sweden and the Marcus Wallenberg foundation for enabling my studies by granting me generous scholarships during this time. The research could not have been achieved without the completion of several pilot studies sponsored by the Lars Hierta memorial foundation. The main experiment on location in China could also not have been performed without the invaluable help and assistance of Chinese friends and colleagues, and the financial support of the Helge Ax:son Johnson foundation. I am forever indebted to all the students who participated in my experiments in Sweden and in China. I have spent several months as a visiting researcher at Melbourne Deakin University in Australia and at Amsterdam University in the Netherlands. I am extremely grateful for the hospitality, generosity and support of Professor He Baogang in Melbourne and Professor Marlies Glasius in Amsterdam. These research visits were made possible by generous financial contributions from the Sixten Gemzéus foundation. I am also truly grateful for the great feedback and comments I have received at various conferences and seminars where I have presented my results. Thank you to Giangiacomo Bravo, Marina Svensson, Richard Rogers, Rebecca Morton, Johan Lagerkvist, Catarina Kinnvall, Hans Hägerdal, Johan Karlsson Schaffer and especially to Katrin Uba for showing interest in my work and giving me valuable inspiration and advice. Finally I would like to thank my friends and family for all their love and support. I am blessed to have you all in my life. A special thought goes out to my dear Johanna Ehde who fills my life with serendipity and joy. The thesis is dedicated to my beloved father who passed away in 2013. You will always and forever be a deep source of vim and verve. Table of contents 1. Open China? ................................................................................................... 9 1.1. Introduction ............................................................................................ 9 1.1.1. What is open government? ............................................................ 12 1.1.2. The case of China ......................................................................... 14 1.2. Research proposition ............................................................................. 17 1.2.1. Proposition level 1 - Description .................................................. 18 1.2.2. Proposition level 2 - Explanation .................................................. 18 1.2.3. Proposition level 3 - Prediction ..................................................... 19 1.2.4. Proposition level 4 - Prescription .................................................. 20 1.2.5. Assessment of the research proposition ......................................... 20 1.3. Outline of the thesis .............................................................................. 22 2. Toward a cybernetic theory of autocracy ....................................................... 25 2.1. Government, governance and governmentality ..................................... 25 2.2. Cybernetics ............................................................................................ 26 2.2.1. Systems of information flows ........................................................ 27 2.2.2. Communication ............................................................................ 29 2.2.3. Power and control ......................................................................... 30 2.2.4. Autonomy ..................................................................................... 31 2.2.5. Autocracy ...................................................................................... 33 2.3. Autocracy redefined ............................................................................... 34 2.3.1. Autocracy vs. authoritarianism ...................................................... 35 2.3.2. The utility of the concept of autocracy .......................................... 36 2.3.3. Autocracy and totalitarianism ....................................................... 37 2.3.4. Critical theory of technology ......................................................... 38 2.3.5. A more comprehensive definition of autocracy ............................. 40 2.4. Cybernetic epistemology ....................................................................... 40 2.4.1. Alternatives to dichotomies ........................................................... 41 2.4.2. Beyond the dichotomy of democracy/autocracy ............................ 42 2.4.3. Consequences for the study of open government in China ........... 43 2.5. Conclusion ............................................................................................ 45 3. Autocracy in different models of steering ...................................................... 47 3.1. Applied cybernetics ..............................................................................