Short Abstract

Amartya Sen argues that the expansion of freedoms & the removal unfreedoms are constitutive of development. This panel features examples of digital citizenship that expand agency freedoms & the power of digital authoritarian practices (surveillance, disinformation, shutdowns) to constrain freedoms.

Description

Citizens make creative use of digital technologies to expand their agency and freedoms in ways that advance 'development as freedom' as conceived by Amartya Sen. Digital technologies afford citizens new action possibilities to engage remotely in 'acts of citizenship' including but not limited to online deliberation, participatory budgeting and hashtag campaigns - even in countries where offline civic space it closed.

However, this 'digital citizenship' is increasingly constrained by repressive acts of 'digital authoritarianism' including state surveillance, coordinated disinformation, online gender-based violence and internet shutdowns. Removal of these "unfreedoms" is the focus of digital rights activists who seek to ensure that citizens are free to exercise, defend and expand their digital rights.

The panel will present papers that feature digital citizenship practice that expand agency, rights and freedoms, as well as papers that foreground the power of digital authoritarian practices. These episodes will be analysed through lenses including but not limited to Amartya Sen's concept of 'development as freedom' and/or rights-based development frameworks.

We welcome papers from all geographies and from scholars at all stages of their career.

Propose paper