Social media and urban social movements: The anatomy of continued protest in authoritarian contexts

Magdalena Karolak, Zayed UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Contemporary Arab Affairs

Publication Date

6-1-2019

Abstract

© 2018 by the Centre for Arab Unity Studies. All rights reserved. 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

1755-0920

Publisher

University of California Press

Volume

12

Issue

2

First Page

25

Last Page

52

Disciplines

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Keywords

Arab uprising, Bahrain, Social media, Social movements

Scopus ID

85073502521

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

no

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