It has been 15 years since the last wave of democratization. But as a region, North Africa and the Middle East were noticeably devoid of popular democracy movements—until the early months of 2011. Democratization movements had existed long before technologies like mobile phones and the Internet came to these countries. But [...]
Now in print! (And byte). Did digital media really “cause” the Arab Spring, or is it an important factor of the story behind what might become democracy’s fourth wave? An unlikely network of citizens used digital media to start a cascade of social protest that ultimately toppled four of the [...]
CBS Evening News http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-20125869/tunisia-election-sets-high-bar-for-arab-spring/
(This appeared as an OpEd entitled “The Real Success in the Tunisian Elections is an Autthentic, Democratic Process” in the Seattle Times. TUNISIA, a country that had never experienced democracy, held a successful election last week. This was the first election of the Arab Spring, and the first in an [...]
Howard, Philip N. and Muzammil Hussain. “Digital Media and the Arab Spring.” Journal of Democracy 22, no. 3 (2011): 35-48. During the “Arab Spring,” young tech savvy activists led uprisings in a dozen countries across North Africa and the Middle East. At first, digital media allowed democratization movements to develop [...]
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