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How do e-government tools that enable direct online communication with the executive affect citizens’ support for autocracy? On the one hand, such centralised digital government tools may sway public opinion in favour of strongman rule at the expense of autocratic institutions; on the other hand, such participation and responsiveness may unintentionally unveil a wide range of issues in the country, undermining trust in the regime. We examine an electronic platform in Turkey, CIMER, that allows citizens to submit petitions and complaints, send messages to the president, and propose policies and programmes. We conducted a well-powered online survey experiment with a nationally representative sample (N≈4,600) that estimates the effects of different types of regime propaganda around this e-portal on attitudinal and quasi-behavioural outcomes. The results suggest that propaganda through CIMER improves diffuse support for the regime and generates behavioural compliance, even among opposition voters. However, these positive effects accrue to regime institutions rather than to Erdoğan personally as the executive’s personalistic leader. On certain dimensions, the propaganda backfires among the regime’s core support groups, eroding their perceptions of Erdoğan’s popularity as a leader. These results have major implications for the expected downstream effects of these types of digital tools on regime stability and legitimacy, and they add to the growing warnings about holding overly optimistic views concerning the effects of digitalisation on democracy.

How do e-government tools that enable direct online communication with the executive affect citizens’ support for autocracy? On the one hand, such centralised digital government tools may sway public opinion in favour of strongman rule at the expense of autocratic institutions; on the other hand, such participation and responsiveness may unintentionally unveil a wide range of issues in the country, undermining trust in the regime. We examine an electronic platform in Turkey, CIMER, that allows citizens to submit petitions and complaints, send messages to the president, and propose policies and programmes. We conducted a well-powered online survey experiment with a nationally representative sample (N≈4,600) that estimates the effects of different types of regime propaganda around this e-portal on attitudinal and quasi-behavioural outcomes. The results suggest that propaganda through CIMER improves diffuse support for the regime and generates behavioural compliance, even among opposition voters. However, these positive effects accrue to regime institutions rather than to Erdoğan personally as the executive’s personalistic leader. On certain dimensions, the propaganda backfires among the regime’s core support groups, eroding their perceptions of Erdoğan’s popularity as a leader. These results have major implications for the expected downstream effects of these types of digital tools on regime stability and legitimacy, and they add to the growing warnings about holding overly optimistic views concerning the effects of digitalisation on democracy.

Quelle : © Europäische Union, 2025 - EP

Plotters misjudged the national mood and Benin's neighbours learnt from past errors, says analyst Paul Melly.

Plotters misjudged the national mood and Benin's neighbours learnt from past errors, says analyst Paul Melly.

En République démocratique du Congo, une flambée de choléra sans précédent depuis 25 ans met en danger des milliers de familles. Dans un communiqué rendu public lundi 8 décembre, l’UNICEF tire la sonnette d’alarme face à une situation qui touche un enfant congolais sur quatre. 

The refusal could make it more difficult for the German military to cooperate with the US and other NATO allies

La déclaration de l'AES indique qu'une enquête menée par les autorités burkinabè a confirmé que l'avion nigérian C-130 était entré dans le pays sans autorisation et transportait 11 personnes.

La déclaration de l'AES indique qu'une enquête menée par les autorités burkinabè a confirmé que l'avion nigérian C-130 était entré dans le pays sans autorisation et transportait 11 personnes.

China’s foreign policy bureaucracy faces a mounting succession crisis that will only multiply in 2026.

En République tchèque, le milliardaire Andrej Babis, victorieux aux législatives d'octobre, a été nommé Premier ministre ce matin, après avoir déjà dirigé le gouvernement entre 2017 et 2021. Avec la Hongrie et la Slovaquie, le risque d'un « front populiste » en Europe centrale inquiète.

Le système d’asile ougandais, l’un des plus progressistes du continent, commence à vaciller. Le pays, qui compte 1,93 million de réfugiés pour 50 millions d’habitants, a annoncé qu’il refuserait dorénavant de régulariser les Somaliens, Ethiopiens et Erythréens.

In today's edition: corporate sustainability rollback, 2035 car ban, Green Deal deregulation

Move addresses France’s conditions for supporting the EU-Mercosur deal, and is aimed at winning over countries hesitant about the agreement

« La République démocratique du Congo n’est plus qu’à 90 minutes d’une qualification historique pour la Coupe du monde, 52 ans après notre unique participation », a déclaré le Président Félix Tshisekedi, lundi 8 décembre 2025, devant le Parlement.

La cité de Luvungi dans la plaine de la Ruzizi (Sud-Kivu) est désormais entre les mains de l’AFC-M23 depuis le week end dernier. Un des notables de Luvungi, contacté par Radio Okapi, affirme que les rebelles ont procédé lundi 8 décembre à la désignation d’un nouveau chef de la cité.

L’ancienne équipe dirigeante de Luvungi ayant fui, le chef de la cité voisine de Kamanyola a été désigné pour administrer les deux entités.

Longtemps étouffé par un Parquet docile, le Tribunal pour le crime organisé (TOK) multiplie les enquêtes touchant les cercles du pouvoir. La convocation du ministre de la Culture Nikola Selaković dans le dossier du Generalštab a déclenché une offensive contre une institution devenue trop indépendante au goût du régime Vučić.

- Articles / Serbie, Belgrade Waterfront, Vucic, Courrier des Balkans, Défense, police et justice, Politique

Longtemps étouffé par un Parquet docile, le Tribunal pour le crime organisé (TOK) multiplie les enquêtes touchant les cercles du pouvoir. La convocation du ministre de la Culture Nikola Selaković dans le dossier du Generalštab a déclenché une offensive contre une institution devenue trop indépendante au goût du régime Vučić.

- Articles / Serbie, Belgrade Waterfront, Vucic, Courrier des Balkans, Défense, police et justice, Politique

Sanitation and proper disposal of human waste are key to a dignified life. The importance of maintaining reasonable standards of sanitation is acknowledged in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG target 6.2) as well as in the Art. 43, I b from the Constitution of Kenya (Government of Kenya, 2010). However, the integration of sanitation policies, their associated legislations and lived practices, and their implications for the environment and human health remain opaque. Understanding is particularly limited regarding sanitation governance in Kenya’s fast-growing secondary cities, where responsibility for sanitation has only recently been devolved from the national to the county level. Our study examines these complex interactions, shedding light on how power relations constitute a determining factor in shaping the access to sanitation and its unequal socio-environmental hybridities. Empirically, we focus on three sub-locations in Nakuru City. Nakuru City has been described as a role model in the Kenyan context. Our research design combines both a quantitative, georeferenced household survey and qualitative, semi-structured interviews with actors at various levels. Our descriptive, regression and qualitative content analyses of the collected data reveal that levels of political interest vary considerably. Collaboration along the on-site sanitation service chain and with other sectors, such as solid waste management, presents numerous challenges, and a significant discrepancy exists in degrees of access to safe sanitation between and within sub-locations. As value-driven leadership at a time of heightened political attention has made Nakuru’s role as a “sanitation champion” possible, we believe that many of these challenges can be overcome with increased collective awareness and a more substantial political commitment to realise the constitutionally guaranteed right to sanitation.

Marius Bug, Maria Gerlspeck, Aline-Victoria Grassl, Saskia Metz, Johannes S. Vogel and Carolin Wicke were junior researchers and participants in the 58th Postgraduate Training Programme 2022/2023 of the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).

Sanitation and proper disposal of human waste are key to a dignified life. The importance of maintaining reasonable standards of sanitation is acknowledged in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG target 6.2) as well as in the Art. 43, I b from the Constitution of Kenya (Government of Kenya, 2010). However, the integration of sanitation policies, their associated legislations and lived practices, and their implications for the environment and human health remain opaque. Understanding is particularly limited regarding sanitation governance in Kenya’s fast-growing secondary cities, where responsibility for sanitation has only recently been devolved from the national to the county level. Our study examines these complex interactions, shedding light on how power relations constitute a determining factor in shaping the access to sanitation and its unequal socio-environmental hybridities. Empirically, we focus on three sub-locations in Nakuru City. Nakuru City has been described as a role model in the Kenyan context. Our research design combines both a quantitative, georeferenced household survey and qualitative, semi-structured interviews with actors at various levels. Our descriptive, regression and qualitative content analyses of the collected data reveal that levels of political interest vary considerably. Collaboration along the on-site sanitation service chain and with other sectors, such as solid waste management, presents numerous challenges, and a significant discrepancy exists in degrees of access to safe sanitation between and within sub-locations. As value-driven leadership at a time of heightened political attention has made Nakuru’s role as a “sanitation champion” possible, we believe that many of these challenges can be overcome with increased collective awareness and a more substantial political commitment to realise the constitutionally guaranteed right to sanitation.

Marius Bug, Maria Gerlspeck, Aline-Victoria Grassl, Saskia Metz, Johannes S. Vogel and Carolin Wicke were junior researchers and participants in the 58th Postgraduate Training Programme 2022/2023 of the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).