Digital Authoritarianism: Case o Securitization of Islam and Internet Censorship in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan

Abstract

With the rapid development of online domain, the recent trend of Internet censorship appeared in authoritarian and partly-free countries. The governments of these countries claim that Internet censorship is a counter-extremism measure. However, the blockage of websites is not only directed at the Islamic extremism but also at the opposition forces, which raises question about the government’s genuine motives. This dissertation looks into the situation with the heavy Internet censorship in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan and securitization of Islam and attempts to establish the connection between the two variables. By applying the securitization theoretical framework, this dissertation assesses the extent of securitization of Islam in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Furthermore, the dissertation will provide the data on the Internet censorship and status of Internet freedom. The dissertation has certain limitations concerning the case study of Kazakhstan, mainly the unavailability of data for the Internet censorship analysis. This limitation was overcome by selection of random sample of websites blocked in Kyrgyzstan.