Democracy’s Fourth Wave?: Digital Media and the Arab Spring

161 Pages·2013·0.875 MB·English

by  Philip N. Howard, Muzammil M. Hussain

DEMOCRACY’S
FOURTH WAVE?
Digital Media and
the Arab Spring
Philip N. Howard and
Muzammil M. Hussain
Democracy’s Fourth Wave?
Oxford Studies in Digital Politics
Series Editor: Andrew Chadwick, Royal Holloway, University of London
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Democracy’s
Fourth Wave?
DIGITAL MEDIA AND THE ARAB SPRING
PHILIP N. HOWARD
and
MUZAMMIL M. HUSSAIN

1
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Howard, Philip N.
Democracy’s fourth wave? Digital media and the Arab Spring / Philip N. Howard and Muzammil M. Hussain.
p. cm.—(Oxford studies in digital politics)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-19-993697-7 (pbk. : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-19-993695-3 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Arab Spring,
2010– 2. Information technology—Political aspects—Arab countries 3. Internet—Political aspects—Arab countries.
4. Internet—Social aspects—Arab countries. 5. Revolutions—Arab countries—History—21st century.
6. Arab countries—Politics and government—21st century. I. Hussain, Muzammil M. II. Title.
JQ1850.A91H68 2012
909′ .097492708312—dc23 2012023604
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
Th is book is dedicated to those who led and sacrifi ced for popular democracy.

Contents
List of Figures i x
List of Tables x i
Acknowledgments x iii
Introduction
3
1. Digital Media and the Arab Spring
17
2. The Recent History of Digital Media and Dissent
35
3. Information Infrastructure and the Organization of Protest
47
4. Authoritarian Responses and Consequences
69
5. Al Jazeera, Social Media, and Digital Journalism
89
Conclusion: Digital Media and the Rhythms of Social Change
103
Notes 127
References 1 33
Index 1 41

List of Figures

1.1. Four Dictators—Ben Ali, Saleh, Gaddafi , and Mubarak—before the
Arab Spring. 2 4
3.1. Percentage of Tunisian Blogs with Posts on Politics, by
Keyword. 5 1
3.2. Number of Tweets in the Region Using Hashtags for Neighboring
Countries. 5 4
3.3. P re-Uprising Structure and Content of Egypt’s Online Political
Sphere, November 2010. 5 9
3.4. Post-Uprising Structure and Content of Egypt’s Online Political
Sphere, May 2011. 60
4.1. Number of Major Incidents of State Intervention in Digital Networks,
by Regime Type, 1995–2011. 7 8
C.1. Mobile Charging Station in Tahrir Square. 122

ix