1. Connecting the Pieces: China’s Bricolage Surveillance System
- Author:
- Kevin D. Haggerty
- Publication Date:
- 09-2023
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Brown Journal of World Affairs
- Institution:
- Brown Journal of World Affairs
- Abstract:
- Over the last decade, China’s ruling Communist Party has been molding a style of governance built on advanced surveillance capabilities. In some respects, this development is not novel. Modern states have long used surveillance to identify geopolitical risks, fight crime, deliver services, and conduct wars, among other objectives.2 As such, surveillance is normatively neutral; it encompasses practices that run the gamut from appealing to appalling. However, recent developments in China fall on the shocking end of this continuum, signaling an unsettling qualitative and quantitative transformation in state-conducted surveillance. Those interested in the dynamics of governance, the contemporary international order, and the emergence of techno-totalitarianism should pay close attention. China’s surveillance measures restrict millions of peoples’ liberties and are crucial in facilitating the unfolding genocide of the Uyghur people. Furthermore, Chinese officials are globally exporting both these surveillance technologies and the repressive governmental ambitions that shape their use.3 State surveillance involves using familiar tools, such as CCTV cameras and spies, and a tremendous assortment of other devices and systems designed to make populations, processes, and places legible.4 China distinguishes itself not only by the sheer volume of its monitoring devices, but also by optimizing and integrating its computing capabilities into a system unparalleled in scope and efficiency. Since assuming the Presidency in 2012, Xi Jinping has increasingly embraced surveillance, positioning information technology as a centerpiece of China’s pursuit of national stability and enhanced geopolitical standing. Such monitoring serves diverse purposes, but a central concern of the Communist Party is to maintain “social stability.” This catch-all euphemism empowers the authorities to identify and “correct” an eclectic and extraordinarily inclusive assortment of activities through not only more surveillance, but also surveil- lance-augmented forms of shaming, intimidation, re-education, violence, and disappearance. This essay focuses on factors that have contributed to the expansion of totalitarian surveillance in China and offers a framework for interpreting these developments beyond the usual fixation on novel technological tools. While the term “totalitarian” is often used loosely as a simple condemnation, it is apt here given the scope and form of social control currently being pursued by PRC authorities. Monitoring in China has become integral to censorship, propaganda, and unvarnished repression—all tactics that advance and protect the Communist Party’s idiosyncratic vision of social stability. As a result, the Chinese state’s desire for domestic order now entails inspecting everyday life at a granular level that was previously inconceivable.
- Topic:
- Governance, Surveillance, Totalitarianism, Censorship, and Information Technology
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia