Digital authoritarianism in context: The Cuban case and the diversity of authoritarian models

This commentary examines Cuba as a case study for understanding digital authoritarianism not as a uniform, monolithic model, but as a set of contextually specific governance arrangements shaped by scarcity, geopolitical isolation, and hybrid state strategies. Drawing on fieldwork conducted between 2016 and 2024, it situates the Cuban experience within comparative debates on authoritarian control of the internet. The analysis shows how Cuba's model blends securitisation with developmental policies, operating within a constrained infrastructural environment and under conditions of external technological and economic exclusion. This peripheral model reveals the need to reconceptualise digital authoritarianism in ways that account for diversity, adaptation, and resource limitations.