Publicity-driven accountability in China
Name
868233810-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
8.61 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
1e895f6427dbb389d7d1416e7c7de92c
Author(s)
Distelhorst, Gregory Michael
Advisor(s)
Edward Steinfeld.
Date Issued
2013
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
What, if anything, renders unelected bureaucrats accountable to the public? This thesis draws upon field research on contemporary China's news media, officials, and activists to theorize the role of publicity in non-electoral accountability. "Publicity-driven accountability" argues that even in highly undemocratic settings officials respond to critical media coverage for two reasons: revealing agency slippage and producing common knowledge about government failings. This mechanism empowers the news media and individual citizens even when formal political rights are severely curtailed, producing a degree of public accountability within authoritarian institutions. The study begins with original evidence that China's Internet news outlets created forms of journalistic autonomy within the constraints of state censorship. Next it documents the sensitivity of Chinese officials to negative media coverage with an original survey experiment on local bureaucrats. The third empirical chapter provides case studies of contemporary activists in China wielding publicity to change the behavior of unelected officials. Publicity-driven accountability has consequences for theories of political development and the roles of both authority and information in aligning nondemocratic governance with the public interest.
Description
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Political Science, 2013.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references.
Subjects
Political Science.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Political Science
Terms of Use
M.I.T. theses are protected by
copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but
reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written
permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.
copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but
reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written
permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.
Persistent DSpace Link
