POLS 082. Surveillance and Repression (CP)

What does the state know about us and why does it need that information? This course examines the politics of state surveillance in countries around the world. The first half investigates the growth of state surveillance in Europe and the US in the 19^th and 20^th centuries, the politics that surrounded the new surveillance state, and how surveillance technologies were developed and deployed in colonial contexts. We then consider how technological changes have amplified the capacity of states around the world to surveil citizens in the 21^st century, examining topics like mass communications collection in the US after 9/11, the birth of a shadowy global market for purchasing spyware and other surveillance tools, the new digital Chinese surveillance state, the role of big tech companies like Google that practice “surveillance capitalism,” the use of artificial intelligence to analyze vast amounts of data on individual behavior, and what all these trends might mean for the future of democratic politics and individual liberty.
Comparative
Social Science.
1 credit.
Eligible for LALS, PEAC, FMST
Spring 2024. Handlin.
Fall 2024. Handlin.
Catalog chapter: Political Science
Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/political-science

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