Gueorguiev quoted in Financial Times article on China's techno-authoritarian state

September 7, 2021

Financial Times

Dimitar Gueorguiev

Political Science Department

China

Financial Times

Dimitar Gueorguiev

A crucial part of the vision of Chinese President Xi Jinping is to build what some analysts call a "techno-authoritarian superpower" in which people are monitored and directed to an unprecedented degree through the agency of government-controlled cyber networks, surveillance systems and algorithms. Dimitar Gueorguiev, associate professor of political science, says the digital technologies deployed by Beijing have helped it keep tabs on popular sentiment and needs. "I argue that the CCP has overcome the information acquisition problem, thanks in large part to the digital ecosystems it has established," says Gueorguiev. "As a result, today’s China is more perceptive of public opinion, less prone to policy blunders and better equipped to manage its own bloated bureaucracy." Read more in the Financial Times article, "China and Big Tech: Xi’s blueprint for a digital dictatorship."