Role of the New Media in the Arab Spring

Author First name, Last name, Institution

Habibul Haque Khondker, Zayed UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Globalizations

Publication Date

10-1-2011

Abstract

This article examines the role of the new media in the 'Arab Spring' in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It argues that although the new media is one of the factors in the social revolution among others such as social and political factors in the region, it nevertheless played a critical role especially in light of the absence of an open media and a civil society. The significance of the globalization of the new media is highlighted as it presents an interesting case of horizontal connectivity in social mobilization as well signaling a new trend in the intersection of new media and conventional media such as television, radio, and mobile phone. One of the contradictions of the present phase of globalization is that the state in many contexts facilitated the promotion of new media due to economic compulsion, inadvertently facing the social and political consequences of the new media. © 2011 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

ISSN

1474-7731

Publisher

Informa UK Limited

Volume

8

Issue

5

First Page

675

Last Page

679

Disciplines

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Keywords

globalization, Middle East, new media, social movement

Scopus ID

84859336965

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

no

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