The Elite Networks Project
NA
Project overview
2025
- The Elite Networks Project2025
This project collects and analyzes data on telecommunications ownership and control (TOSCO) to assess whether and how political connections influence the willingness of companies to comply with government requests to censor or block Internet access. The TOSCO dataset enables a comparative large-N analysis of the determinants and effects of different ownership structures and identities in the changing context of 49 African countries. Combining different strands of literature from political science, economics and business administration, we theorize how different government-business owner linkages, both domestically and internationally, determine a firm’s willingness to comply with government orders to block Internet access, even if this would result in financial losses. By linking ISP data from TOSCO with VPN usage data, we determine which ISPs have blocked or censored internet access between 2017 and 2021.
2022
- Digital politics2022
Governments worldwide suppress access to information, often during times of contentious politics, such as elections or social unrest. While political scientists have thoroughly studied how increasing internet access and, in particular, access to social media has influenced protest behavior, research remains inconclusive about the consequences of a sudden loss of access to the internet for mobilization. This project offers a novel way to measure different forms of online censorship and a systematic assessment of their consequences for offline mobilization. We also investigate whether increasing Internet access and use challenges authoritarian elections. Internet access provides both opposition supporters and government authorities with new means to shape electoral conduct. Overall, the results stress the important role that Internet access can play for opposition actors in authoritarian elections. At the same time, they highlight their susceptibility to manipulation by government authorities.