Work

Conflict, information and regime-change

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: We study the choice between media freedom and censorship by an autocratic regime whose power can be challenged by citizens’ riots. To mitigate the risk of revolts, the regime can reduce citizens’ discontent, which is unknown to all, through public goods provision. To fine-tune such provision, the regime needs reliable information about discontent. However, public information has the unintended effect of helping citizens to coordinate towards rioting. We find that, ex ante , media freedom is preferred by strong and weak regimes, whereas censorship is preferred by regimes of intermediate strength. We also show that, absent policy-making, all regimes would prefer censorship, implying that media freedom is important for the fine-tuning of public goods provision, and hence for building popular consensus.

Source: European Journal of Political Economy

DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2025.102681

Authors: Davide Bosco, Luca Colombo, Gianluca Femminis

Institutions: University of Milano-Bicocca, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore

Language: English

Topic: Media Influence and Politics

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,650