Abstract:

Scholarly research on the role of digital activism in authoritarian settings has largely centred around debates on ‘liberation technology’ versus ‘networked authoritarianism’. This article aims to extend existing research by linking authoritarian legitimation theories with emerging scholarship on digital activism. The study examines Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, two autocracies in post-Soviet Central Asia, to demonstrate how non-democratic regimes use digital activism for legitimation purposes. This research is based on 33 qualitative in-depth interviews with digital activists and state officials in both countries and generates critical comparative insights into how modern autocracies function in the digital age. The article suggests autocracies use four mutually inclusive and escalating legitimation mechanisms (limited participation, outputs legitimation, regime discourse, and targeted repression) to become more resilient through their interactions with digital activists.