The Supply of Digital Authoritarianism to Africa: an Empirical Study

Abstract Over the last two decades, there has been a remarkable increase in the practice of digital authoritarianism in Africa. Yet researchers remain divided as to the drivers of this trend, especially as it relates to its international origins. Some scholars have portrayed China as a foreign supply-side driver of the technologies and the practice of digital authoritarianism in Africa. However, others argue that such origins are overstated, contending that little evidence exists for a direct role of China in Africa’s increasing turn towards digital authoritarianism. In this paper, I use a norm diffusion and order project approach to propose and test an innovative theory of China’s strategic supply of its model of digital authoritarianism to Africa. China, I argue, supplies such technologies and expertise to Africa to shape international norms in a manner that favors its geopolitical goals. Consequently, I hypothesize that the more likely an African country is a regional norm diffuser, the more likely it will be that China supplies it with its model of digital authoritarianism. To test this theory, I conduct a statistical panel analysis of African countries for the years 2000–2020. My results confirm my hypothesis and present novel findings that have implications for technology governance, African politics, China’s rise, and China’s strategic contestation of international norms.