Global Trends. Analysis
GLOBAL TRENDS. ANALYSIS is a joint publication series of the Institute for Development and Peace and the Development and Peace Foundation (sef:). The series aims to identify options for international policy action in an ever more complex world, presenting perspectives from different regions. It examines current developments and challenges in the light of long-term political trends, and illustrates facts with figures and tables. Our aim is to present complex issues in a comprehensible manner - also with the help of graphics. In doing so, we continue the tradition of the GLOBAL TRENDS book series, which was published from 1991 to 2015.
Current Issue
The advances in digital technologies have positive effects on various aspects of life but can also pose a threat to privacy and freedom and can foster repression and authoritarian tendencies. The COVID-19 pandemic pushed the danger of a “digital authoritarianism”, not only in already authoritarian regimes but also in established democracies.
Ahmed Maati, the author of our GLOBAL TRENDS.ANALYSIS 02|2022, highlights three characteristics of digital technologies that render them susceptible to authoritarianism: the far-reaching capabilities of these technologies, their entrenchment in a reinforcing ecosystem, and the general lack of literacy regarding digital technologies. He emphasizes that this development grants democracies an opportunity to raise awareness of digital technologies’ dangerous capabilities and their authoritarian-friendly ecosystem.