Political repression

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Political repression is the act of a state entity controlling a citizenry by force for political reasons, particularly for the purpose of restricting or preventing the citizenry's ability to take part in the

political activists, dissidents, or general population.[5] Direct repression tactics are those targeting specific actors who become aware of the harm done to them while covert tactics rely on the threat of citizenry being caught (wiretapping and monitoring).[6] The effectiveness of the tactics differ: covert repression tactics cause dissidents to use less detectable opposition tactics[7] while direct repression allows citizenry to witness and react to the repression.[8] Political repression can also be reinforced by means outside of written policy, such as by public and private media ownership and by self-censorship
within the public.

Where political repression is sanctioned and organised by the state, it may constitute state terrorism, genocide, politicide or crimes against humanity. Systemic and violent political repression is a typical feature of dictatorships, totalitarian states and similar regimes.[9] While the use of political repression varies depending on the authoritarian regime, it is argued that repression is a defining feature and the foundation of autocracies by creating a power hierarchy between the leader and citizenry, contributing to the longevity of the regime.[10] Repressive activities have also been found within democratic contexts as well.[11][12] This can even include setting up situations where the death of the target of repression is the end result.[13] If political repression is not carried out with the approval of the state, a section of government may still be responsible. Some examples are the FBI COINTELPRO operations from 1956 to 1971 and the Palmer Raids from 1919-1920.[14][15][16]

In some states, "repression" can be an official term used in legislation or the names of government institutions. The

Stephen Wheatcroft, in the case of the Soviet Union terms such as "the terror", "the purges" and "repression" are used to refer to the same events. He believes the most neutral terms are repression and mass killings, although in Russian the broad concept of repression is commonly held to include mass killings and is sometimes assumed to be synonymous with it, which is not the case in other languages.[17]

In political conflict

Political conflict strongly increases the likelihood of state repression. This is arguably the most robust finding in social science research on political repression. Civil wars are a strong predictor of repressive activity, as are other forms of challenges from non-government actors.[18] States so often engage in repressive behaviors in times of civil conflict that the relationship between these two phenomena has been termed the "Law of Coercive Responsiveness".[19] When their authority or legitimacy is threatened, regimes respond by overtly or covertly suppressing dissidents to eliminate the behavioral threat. State repression subsequently affects dissident mobilization, though the direction of this effect is still an open question. Some strong evidence suggests that repression suppresses dissident mobilization by reducing the capacity of challengers to organize, yet it is also feasible that challengers can leverage state repressive behavior to spur mobilization among sympathizers by framing repression as a new grievance against the state.[20]

Violence

Members of the right-wing Lapua Movement assault a former Red Guard officer and the publisher of the communist newspaper at the Vaasa riot on June 4, 1930, in Vaasa, Finland.

Political repression is often accompanied by violence, which might be legal or illegal according to domestic law.[21] Violence can both eliminate political opposition directly by killing opposition members, or indirectly by instilling fear.

Intolerance

Political repression is sometimes accompanied with

forced disappearance
and other punishments against political activists, dissidents, and populations in general.

State terrorism

When political repression is sanctioned and organized by the state, situations of state terrorism, genocide and crimes against humanity can be reached. Systematic and violent political repression is a typical feature of dictatorships, totalitarianisms and similar regimes. In these regimes, acts of political repression can be carried out by the police and secret police, the army, paramilitary groups and death squads. Sometimes regimes considered democratic exercise political repression and state terrorism to other states as part of their security policy.[22]

Direct vs. indirect repression

Direct repression is a form of repression where the state targets an opposing political actor by obvious violent action. The target is clearly aware of the harm that is caused to their life and livelihood. Direct repression does not exclusively occur within the boundaries of a state, but also across borders.[23] In personalist dictatorships, initiating conflicts with other states and people outside their own borders is more common because of lack of accountability via extremely limited or no competitive elections.[24]

Indirect repression relies on the threat of violence which constitutes harassment, intimidation, and administrative blockages. These tactics tend to be non-violent, yet still are built to control citizenry.[25]

Repressive success and monitoring

Individuals indirectly exposed to repression self-report higher trust in the leader and ruling party. This phenomenon was observed in

Sensetime, Huawei, ZTE, and others.[32][33][34][35]

See also

Killings

National Institutions

Related Systems

Types of Persecution

Restrictions and Actions

Types of States and Regimes

Institutions and Groups

Related Concepts

References

  1. ^ Davenport, Christian (2007). State Repression and the Domestic Democratic Peace New York: Cambridge University Press.
  2. ^ Davenport, Christian, Johnston, Hank and Mueller, Carol (2004). Repression and Mobilization Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
  3. ^ Hassan, Mai; Mattingly, Daniel; Nugent, Elizabeth R (November 30, 2021). "Political Control". Annual Review of Political Science.
  4. ^ Wang, Y. (2021). The Political Legacy of Violence During China's Cultural Revolution. British Journal of Political Science, 51(2), 463-487. doi:10.1017/S0007123419000255
  5. ^ Kittrie, Nicholas N. 1995. The War Against Authority: From the Crisis of Legitimacy to a New Social Contract. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
  6. ^ Sullivan, Christopher M. Resistance is Mobile: Dynamics of Repression, Challenger Adaptationm and Surveillance in US 'Red Squad' and Black Nationalist Archives. Volume 55, Issue 2.
  7. ^ Sullivan, Christopher M. Resistance is Mobile: Dynamics of Repression, Challenger Adaptationm and Surveillance in US 'Red Squad' and Black Nationalist Archives. Volume 55, Issue 2.
  8. ^ Hassan, Mai; Mattingly, Daniel; Nugent, Elizabeth R (November 30, 2021). "Political Control". Annual Review of Political Science.
  9. ^ Serge, Victor, 1979, What Everyone Should Know About State Repression, London: New Park Publications.
  10. ^ Johannes Gerschewski (2013) The three pillars of stability: legitimation, repression, and co-optation in autocratic regimes, Democratization, 20:1, 13-38, DOI: 10.1080/13510347.2013.738860
  11. ^ Haas, Jeffrey. The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther. Chicago, Ill.: Lawrence Hill /Chicago Review, 2010.
  12. ^ COINTELPRO: The FBI's Covert Action Programs Against American Citizens, Final Report of the Senate Committee to Study Governmental Operations with respect to Intelligence Activities.
  13. ^ Cunningham, D. 2004. There’s something happening here: The New Left, the Klan, and FBI counterintelligence. Berkeley: Univ. of California.
  14. ^ "Justice Department Campaign Against the IWW, 1917-1920". depts.washington.edu. Retrieved 2023-04-13.
  15. .
  16. .
  17. .
  18. .
  19. ^ "Los Derechos Humanos y la trata de personas" (PDF). www.ohchr.org. Retrieved 2017-05-14.
  20. OCLC 477299442.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  21. ^ Hassan, Mai; Mattingly, Daniel; Nugent, Elizabeth R (November 30, 2021). "Political Control". Annual Review of Political Science.
  22. .
  23. ^ Hassan, Mai; Mattingly, Daniel; Nugent, Elizabeth R (November 30, 2021). "Political Control". Annual Review of Political Science.
  24. ^ Garcîa-Ponce, Omar; Pasquale, Benjamin (2015). "How Political Repression Shapes Attitudes Toward the State".
  25. S2CID 154090678
    .
  26. ^ "North Koreans vote in 'no-choice' parliamentary elections". BBC News. March 10, 2019.
  27. ^ "North Korea: Systematic Repression". Human Rights Watch. 14 January 2020. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
  28. ^ 孟宝勒 (2018-07-17). "中国的威权主义未来:人工智能与无孔不入的监控" (in Chinese). 纽约时报中文网. Archived from the original on 2019-10-16. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  29. ^ Vicky Xiuzhong Xu (2018-03-31). "【聚焦】中国社会信用系统致力于为公民打分并改造社会行为" (in Chinese). ABC中文. Archived from the original on 2018-09-29. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  30. ^ "人臉識別 + 社會信用系統,一場重塑人類行為的社會實驗?". theinitium.com (in Traditional Chinese). 25 May 2018. Archived from the original on 2021-08-04. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  31. ^ "打造平安城市精品视频监控网络" (PDF). 华为. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-02-17.
  32. ^ 孟宝勒 (2019-04-15). "单月50万次人脸识别:中国如何用AI监控维族人" (in Simplified Chinese). 纽约时报中文网. Archived from the original on 2019-10-16. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  33. ^ "中国天网工程背后有三大功臣:包括中兴与华为". 多维新闻. Archived from the original on 2019-04-10. Retrieved 2019-11-14.

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