Social Media and Urban Social Movements: The Anatomy of Continued Protest in Authoritarian Contexts

The goal of this research is to explore the opportunities brought about by the use of new media in urban protests. Specifically, it investigates the use of the Internet in modern protest movements that failed to bring about the changes they sought, using Bahrain as a case study. The focus is put on...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Contemporary Arab affairs 2019-06, Vol.12 (2), p.25-52
Main Author: KAROLAK, MAGDALENA
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activism
Authoritarianism
Case studies
Censorship
Critical theory
Demonstrations & protests
Demonstrations and protests
Discourse analysis
Information management
Internet
Mass media
Political aspects
Protest movements
Social aspects
Social media
Social movements
Urban areas
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Summary:The goal of this research is to explore the opportunities brought about by the use of new media in urban protests. Specifically, it investigates the use of the Internet in modern protest movements that failed to bring about the changes they sought, using Bahrain as a case study. The focus is put on urban movements that continue revolutionary activism off- and online in the sixth year after the failure of the Bahraini uprising. This research assesses the need to maintain an online presence for these cities and explains the goals of their online presence. The paper also aims to understand what type of variations exist within these urban movements; and analyzes the interplay between such online manifestations and online censorship. This research is based on the critical discourse analysis of web content and graphic representations produced by Bahraini activists on particular online sites pertaining to each city in question.
ISSN:1755-0912
1755-0920
DOI:10.1525/caa.2019.122002