Digital Repression and Conflict Violence: Examination of the Civil Violence Across Indian States - Protests, Riots, Military Operations Show Digital Shutdowns in India Fail to Prevent Violence

This report has been professionally converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction. Digital repression of political speech gained prominence during the Arab Spring when governments acknowledged the power of networked collective action. The shutdown strategies that proliferated from the Arab Spring expanded around the globe. Now, almost a decade later, India leads the world in government-mandated digital repression. The rapid expansion of the internet and mobile penetration, combined with long-standing civil unrest, created a volatile issue within India. The use of strategic shutdowns by Indian authorities attempts to contain and reduce the conflict-related violence while limiting collateral economic damage. To investigate such efforts, this thesis examines patterns of civil violence across Indian states in the wake of digital repression events. This research employs both quantitative and qualitative approaches to analyze the relationship between violence and digital shutdowns using data on civil unrest, including protests, riots, military operations, and digital shutdowns in India. The evidence indicates that while the goal of India's use of strategic shutdowns is to contain and reduce conflict-related violence, strategic shutdowns actually result in increased violence in the days following the shutdown event. These findings indicate that shutting off the internet and cell phone services is not an effective approach to preventing internal violence.

This compilation includes a reproduction of the 2019 Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community.

I. The Age of Digital Liberation, Digital Repression and Networked Collective Action * A. The Intersection of the Information Age and Social Movements * B. The Rise of Networked Collective Action * C. Digital Liberation * D. Digital Repression * II. The Rising Tide of Internet Repression in India * A. India: Autocratic Strategies of Repression Used in a Democracy? * B. Digitalizing India * C. India's Legal Justification for Internet Repression * D. Comparing Shutdown Strategies * E. Underlying Civil Unrest * F. India's ICT Enhanced Collective Action * G. Looking Ahead * III. Quantifying Digital Shutdowns and Conflict Violence * A. India's Rise to Reign in Digital Shutdowns * B. Shutdown and Violence Datasets * C. Dependent Variable — Violence * D. Primary Independent Variable — Digital Shutdown Events * E. Control Variables — Military Operations, Protests and Riots * F. Lagged Variables * G. Hypotheses * H. Main Results * I. Conclusion and Assessment * IV. Civil Unrest and Digital Repression: An Intimate Look * A. Case Study Selection Criteria * B. April 2018, #Bharatbandh Protests * C. Grievances * D. Political Opportunities * E. Mobilizing Structures * F. Framing * G. Digital Liberation, Repression and Violence During #Bharatbandh * H. Beyond the #Bharatbandh * V. Conclusion and Future Studies * A. Areas of Further Research * B. Summary of Analysis