Talk:
“Autocratization in an Age of Digitalization”
by
Hüseyin Emre Ceyhun
Department of Politics
Princeton University, USA
heceyhun@princeton.edu
Date and Room Info
Friday, February 6, 2026, 12:30 p.m.
A-130
Abstract
How does elite access to digital media shape competition and cohesion within ruling parties in electoral autocracies? I argue that digital media access empowers elites to build independent mobilization capabilities, allowing them to circumvent traditional pathways for career advancement within party hierarchies. This process signals to the rank-and-file that loyalty and party work are no longer the primary paths to advancement, thereby weakening elite discipline and eroding intra-party cohesion. Using a mixed-methods approach — combining quantitative analysis, machine learning, conjoint experiments, and 54 in-depth interviews with party elites — I examine Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP). The findings demonstrate that online popularity becomes critical for securing party candidacy. This marginalizes traditional elites with a limited online presence, leading to their defection, while elites with greater online popularity leverage their new-found influence to engage in autonomous behavior. The results suggest that as traditional elites exit, a new cadre—less beholden to the party’s agenda—emerges. Further analysis shows that internal advancement is specifically driven by posts highlighting party work. Conjoint experiments confirm that digital media empowers elites by generating bandwagon effects and enabling them to showcase their work directly to citizens. A cross-country analysis indicates that similar dynamics are present in other electoral autocracies. This paper presents that structuring elite access to digital media as a shock to the balance of power within the ruling coalition provides new insights into the durability of authoritarian governance and its implications for political liberalization.
Short Bio
Huseyin Emre Ceyhun is a PhD candidate in the Department of Politics at Princeton University, and a fellow at both the Center for Statistics and Machine Learning and the Center for International Security Studies. He is also a junior fellow with the Association for Analytic Learning about Islam and Muslim Societies (AALIMS). His research broadly explores digital-age authoritarianism through elite politics, institutional adaptation, and political behavior, with a regional emphasis on the Middle East and North Africa. His book project, Autocratization in an Age of Digitalization, examines how elite access to digital media in authoritarian countries paradoxically empowers elites while undermining ruling party discipline and loyalty, destabilizing the very foundations of authoritarian rule. His recent projects investigate two key dynamics in authoritarian countries: first, how citizens mistakenly attribute technological progress to effective governance – even when such advancements stem from global trends rather than state-led initiatives; and second, how autocrats repurpose traditional tools of social control—such as religion and propaganda— in the digital age. His work has been published or forthcoming in Comparative Politics, Mediterranean Politics and other outlets. His research has been supported by Princeton’s Mamdouha S. Bobst Center for Peace and Justice, the Center for International Security Studies, and the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies.