Replication Dataset for "Infrastructures of Control: The PRC Party-state and the Diffusion of Surveillance Technology to the Global South"

This dataset was collected in support of a mixed-methods correlational study examining the relationship between Chinese surveillance technology exports and the rise of digital authoritarianism in Ecuador and Zimbabwe from 2007 to 2024. The study investigates whether spikes in exports of Chinese Digital Silk Road (DSR) surveillance infrastructure — specifically products classified under Harmonized System (HS) codes 8525 (cameras and imaging equipment) and 8517 (telecommunications and network infrastructure) — correlate with measurable declines in digital freedom indicators in these two Global South countries.

Trade data was drawn from the United Nations Comtrade database, capturing the nominal U.S. dollar value of Chinese exports to Ecuador, Zimbabwe, the United States, and the World across the study period. These raw values were inflation-adjusted and transformed into five composite dimensions of surveillance export intensity — Density, Saturation, Velocity, Allocation, and Dominance — which were then standardized and aggregated into a Surveillance Export Intensity Index (SEII). Digital repression was measured using ten indicators from the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Dataset v15, selected for their conceptual connection to surveillance-enabled authoritarianism. The study's primary analytical techniques include within-country Z-score standardization, lagged correlation and regression analysis (at t–0, t–1, and t–2), and event-based pre/post comparisons around peak export years.

The two case countries were selected because they share documented ties to major Chinese technology firms (particularly Huawei and CEIEC) and histories of surveillance infrastructure investment, while differing in regime type, economic strength, and regional context — enabling a comparative analysis of how Chinese surveillance exports interact with different political environments.