Is censorship ever effective? What methods do the Chinese government use to censor the internet? Why does the Chinese government believe in censorship, and why do so many people in China agree? In the second half of this two-part series on internet censorship in China, Jemima talks to Rongbin Han about social, political, and economic factors that lead to censorship, and its wider implications both in China and worldwide.
The speaker, Rongbin Han is an Associate professor at the Department of International Affairs, University of Georgia. His research interests center on regime transition, media politics and social activism in authoritarian regimes, with an area focus on China. He is the author of Contesting Cyberspace in China: Online Expression and Authoritarianism Resilience (Columbia University Press, 2018) as well as a number of journal articles and book chapters.
Interview by Jemima Sinclair. Music by Lorcan Cudlip Cook
Oxford Society for International Development 