The authors use the term new media instead and not social media in the report. Social networks and internet along with cell phones played significant role in these states to uphold uprisings. Social media is no longer the domain of the liberal youth, empowering different agendas across the political map. Zulkuf aydin sep 2015, 108 pages arab spring is a political concept that spread widely in the media and academic art publications. Digital media and the arab spring oxford scholarship. Part memoir, part history, the book includes intimate stories of the revolutionaries who fought for freedom on the streets and across the internet stories that would have never been recorded. Unrest and uncertainty the big picture, the boston globes photoblog. Social media tapped into by the traditional press, galvanized the arab spring and generated international support and awareness. Egypt and tunis are among the uppermost states of the region in which figure of internet users is elevated tucker, 2012. A spike in online revolutionary conversations often preceded major events on the ground. Pdf arab spring as a background of civil war in syria. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter. Their survival rested on an authoritarian bargain or social contract, whereby the regime would provide social services and largescale public sector employment including through nationalised. The influence of social networking technologies on female.
Social media was effective in awakening the arab people and giving them the power to fight against repressive regimes in their drive for greater freedom and independence. Social media and the politics of reportage explores the role of social media, such as facebook, twitter and blogs, within the field of global journalism with a focus on the recent protests during the arab spring. In the embryonic, ever evolving era of social media when milestones come by the day, if not by the second june 8, 2010, has secured a rightful place in history. Politics comes first gadi wolfsfeld 1, elad segev2, and tamir sheafer3 abstract the goal of this article is to place the role that social media plays in collective action within a more general theoretical structure, using the events of the arab spring as a case study. Mass media declared the arab spring as social network revolutions tucker, 2012. The arab spring refers to a period of protests beginning on december 18, 2010 in tunisia, which quickly spread to numerous other arab nations and resulted in regime change in tunisia, libya, egypt, and yemen, and repression andor violence in syria, bahrain, sudan, and elsewhere. Launched by the image of the selfimmolation of the tunisian vegetable vendor mohamed bouazizi as an outcry against the humiliation of citizens at the hands of authoritarian states and their security apparatuses, the arab spring has so far resulted in a mix of hope for reform and questions about the future of the middle. The potential of media to change political landscapes throughout the middle east and africa internet economics internetokonomie 9783643904683. Philip howard of the university of washington in seattle, who has published an analysis that found a strong link between social media and the arab spring isnt so sure. Roots and causes of the arab uprisings there is a consensu s among politica l analysts regardin g the cocktai l of major factors that, when combined, created the socia l explosio n known as the 2011 arab uprisings. When the socalled arab spring erupted in 2011, social media was credited for mobilizing the masses, supposedly in a spontaneous way.
Libyathe death of dictator first protests in libya started on january 2011 but mass uprisings began in the city of benghazi on 15 february 2011. Arab spring protests in bahrain these citizen journalist news networks using social media to disseminate their information raise the question of credibility as reliable sources for the international media. In saying that its role cannot be disregarded, this paper does not argue that social media caused the arab spring but was an essential tool. Instead, a new arab political identity with an antidespotic, pluralis t and democracyseekin g approach is dawning.
Taking power through technology in the arab spring. Pdf the role of social media in the syrian uprising. From arab spring to global revolution in an excerpt from his book why its still kicking off everywhere, paul mason argues that a global protest movement, based on social networks, is. The arab spring carried the promise that social media and the internet were going to unleash a new wave of positive social change. The impact of these technologies was felt globally, affecting both developed and developing nations, if not in the same way.
Pdf the role of social media in the arab uprisings. In egypt, protests and strikes began on january 25, 2011 national police day and lasted for 18 days, bringing. According to the 2011 arab social media report, 94% of tunisians get their news from social media tools, as do 88% of. Breakdown of social contract all the countries involved in the arab spring had authoritarian regimes, many of which had been in power for decades.
The end of postcolonialism by hamid dabashi, a rage for order. This paper aims to demonstrate why the role of social media in the arab spring cannot be disregarded. The book asks why the penetration rate for social media differs in different countries. How social media evolved from enabler to disruptor arab news.
It concerns the us government role in instigating, funding and coordinating the arab spring revolutions. Drawing on largescale data generated from the internet and realworld events, this book shows how mobilizations that succeed are unpredictable, unstable, and often unsustainable. Case studies of tunisia and egypt abdulsattar, tammam omer msc. But the past five years have shown that liberty isnt the only. The economist offers authoritative insight and opinion on international news, politics, business, finance, science, technology and the connections between them. The book is timely as it deals with the transforming media landscape during crisis reporting as a result of the rise of social media news coverage and usage. Egypt this guide lists online and print sources for what has become known as the arab spring, the popular revolutionary wave in the middle east and north africa that started in december 2010. The role of social media in political mobilisation. Social media and the arab spring rutgers university.
Social media made the arab spring, but couldnt save it. Online arab spring responds to this question, considering five countries. The central idea of this book is that social media is nothing new it is simply a return to a form of communication that has existed for centuries and that media has only been antisocial i. The endgame is a series of films exploring the fall of the gaddafi regime from the perspective of those who helped to bring it down al jazeera tv the long road to tripoli. The role of information communication technologies in the. Social media use within middle eastern countries has grown exponentially in recent years, and has been the driving force behind many societal changes in the middle east, such as gender reform. Arab spring economist world news, politics, economics. The role played by the arab mass media in the arab spring is recognized by a lot of analysts. Authoritarianism and democratization in the arab w orld, rex brynen et al. Lentissocial media and the arab spring wikibooks, open. The role of social media in the arab uprisings pew.
The two main arguments on the role of electronic media are firstly,to consider the digital media as a cause of the arab spring, while the other sees these tools as a vehicle to communicate with. In this book, npr social media chief andy carvin the man who tweets revolutions offers a unique firstperson recap of the arab spring. It began in response to oppressive regimes and a low standard of living, starting with protests in tunisia noueihed, 2011. The impact of social media on social unrest in the arab. Demonstrators expressing political and economic grievances faced violent crackdowns by. An update on the project in 2016how it felt to live in the arab world five years after the arab spring. Social media in the arab world before the recent revolutions had been described as marginal, alternative and elitist, and their impact minimal because of the low penetration rates of the internet. What is the role of social media on fundamental change in arab countries in the middle east and north africa. Arab spring, wave of prodemocracy protests and uprisings that took place in the middle east and north africa beginning in 2010, challenging some of the regions entrenched authoritarian regimes. While the uprising in tunisia led to some improvements in the country from a humanrights perspective, not all of the nations that witnessed such social and political. Social media played a central role in shaping political debates in the arab spring. Since january 2011, the eyes of the world have turned to the arab spring. The arab spring in egypt religious literacy project. While some scholars extrapolate the role of the new media for antiauthoritarian movements 2.
At times during 2011, the term arab spring became interchangeable with twitter uprising or facebook revolution, as global media tried to make sense of what was going on. Political turbulence reveals that, in fact, most attempts at collective action online do not succeed, but some give rise to huge mobilizationseven revolutions. The role of social media in the arab spring, a revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests in the middle east and north africa between 2010 and 2012, remains a highly debated subject. This report investigates the impact of social media upon social unrest during the arab spring and is designed to test the common hypothesis that facebook, twitter and other social media outlets had a significant impact on the outbreak of protests in the mena region. Social media helped spread democratic ideas across international borders. Egypt, libya, jordan, yemen, and tunisia, along with additional examples. A young egyptian woman stops in front of the kasr al nile bridge that leads to tahrir square, on the fifth anniversary anniversary of the 2011 uprising, in cairo, egypt, on january 25, 2016. And there are many examples where social media have been used to fuel popular uprisings, the most striking example in the arab spring. Uprisings occurred in states regardless of their levels of internet usage, with some states with high levels of internet usage such as bahrain, with 88% of its population online in 2011 experiencing. Description in late of 2010 and during 2011, the arab countries saw a series of large scale political uprisings.
Main findings no one could have predicted that mohammed bouazizi would play a role. While the arab spring may point to a phenomenon of new mass forms of sociopolitical protest facilitated by social media networks, particularly in regard to their organizational and. This paper will discuss the causes of the arab spring and how social media played a role in the middle east before the start of the revolutions in 2011. This article was first crossposted on gr in october 2015. Subject liberal studies, arab spring, 2010, social mediapolitical aspectsmiddle east extent 1 online resource iii, 37 p. We al jazeera tv follow a group of libyan exiles as they sacrifice everything to return home for the final assault on tripoli. The scientific landscape is also divided over the importance of social media during the arab spring.
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