The Impact of Social Media on Political Life in the Arab Countries - Research Paper Example

? THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON THE POLITICAL LIFE IN THE ARAB COUNTRIES PROPOSAL This paper provides an insight into the political condition of Arabian nations of Middle East and growth of social media. For years, governments of Arabian nations have restricted its people from using social media. But in recent times, general people are using social media as a tool to voice their protests and claim their rights. This paper inspects the effect of increasing use of social media on political functioning of Arabian nations, with special reference to Arab Spring. The first section of this paper introduces the subject and provides aims and objectives of the research work. In the literature review section, models, theories and contemporary practices in Arabian nations are discussed. In methodology section, the research method which is to be followed is discussed. Finally a tentative timeframe is calculated and a conclusion is provided. Introduction Communication via mobile and through web has been on an increase in twenty-first century. High end technologies are responsible behind this growing trend. Events of Arab Spring used web based social media- the blogs, different networking sites which enabled social interaction, and content communities. Though the governments of Arabian nations have tried to restrict use of internet, and even arrested prominent internet users, but had failed significantly in many cases. Social mediums like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube were used to organize protests. Slogans of protests were set up in pages and groups within these social networking sites. This helped in spreading of democratic ideas not only within Egypt where the Arab Spring assumed its voluptuous shape but also across international borders. Furthermore, social media heavily influenced political debate and formed divided opinions among urban educated youths of Arabian nations. As an attempt to restrict spreading of revolutionary ideas, every use of internet in Egypt was blocked for a short while by Egyptian authorities. However, amidst of numerous difficulties, the Arab Spring was capable of demonstrating the ability of people to protest, even if it was through social media (Stewart 2012, p. 248-250). This paper contains a brief overview of present condition of Arabian social media in light of political and religious influence. The aims and objectives of this research works are stated and are followed by literature review, a detailed study of impact of social media on politics of Arabian nations. In next section, methodology which will be adopted in due course of research is described. After that comes possible interpretation and analysis of data to be collected. In the final section, a conclusion will be provided along with recommendations. Research Aim This research paper aims at tracing the role played by social media upon political upheaval in the Arabian countries and the controlling mechanisms behind them. Research Objectives a) To recognize the growing powers of social media in Arabian nations b) To identify the major powers in political scenario of Arabian countries c) To trace the impact of social media on governments, political parties and common people of Arabian nations d) To examine the pros and cons of influence exerted by social media on political of Arabian nations e) To presume the future of social media with respect to political conditions on Arabian nations Rationale of the Research This research paper focuses on the role played by social media in Arabian nations. Owing to the facilities of social media like free flow of information, cross- border interconnectivity, etc. politics in Arabian nations have realized the latent potentials of social media. In this regard, social media has already started to pose as a threat for Middle East politics (Cobley and Schulz 2013, p. 404). Social media has fuelled some of the recent revolutionary activities in Arabian nations. This generates the necessity for tracing the growth, popularity and advantages and misuse of social media in Arabian nations (Al-Deen, Allen and Hendricks 2011, p. 1-5). Arabian nations: Brief Overview At the time of Second World War, ‘Middle East’ represented only Persia and certain areas of eastern Arabia. From a general point of view, ‘Arab countries’ refers to those nations of Middle East which speak Arabic language. These countries are “Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen and UAE”. These countries, along with “Comoros, Mauritania and Somalia” are also identified as countries belonging to the ‘League of Arab States’. However, it is not just language that binds these countries with a common thread. The religion of Islam is the other common aspect shared by these countries. Even after having one common religion, Arabs have divided themselves into religious groups viz. “Sunni, Shiite, Bahhai and Druze. Besides, the Arabian countries are also segmented on basis of ethnicity and has been home of several traditional ethnic groups such as “Nubians, Bedouins, Kurds and Berbers”. Christians and Jews are among some other religious minorities that are found in Arabian nations. All these features make the Arabian countries a noteworthy instance of ‘unity in diversity’ (Rinnawi and Dajani 2011, p. 1- 2). Literature Review Even since the Arabian countries emerged as storehouse of crude petroleum, their economic and political conditions had altogether experienced a huge change. Some of the trends, practices, recent uprisings along with changes in socio- political norms are death with. Social media and Arab Spring: Coined in 2005, the very term ‘Arab Spring’ implies to the numerous uprisings that had started taking place in the Arabian nations since 2011 and is continuing till date. In Tunisia, these movements first originated and gradually gained momentum in other nations of Arabian League, especially in “Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Jordan”. (CMD sent two reporters to track ALEC in Oklahoma). The uprisings were a result of various types of restrictions imposed on common people of Arabian nations. Corruption and biased election has long curbed democratic choices of Arabian nations. Thus, the Arab Spring aimed at voicing the popular demands of people against decade- long state- institutional mechanisms. The chief force behind such a mass upheaval was introduction and popularity of social media. Ever since ‘Internet’ and numerous ‘Social sites’ came into existence, the Arabian nations were sort of conservative in using and acknowledging their benefits. Even at present times multiple places can be found within Arabian nations where use of internet is limited only to the officials and elites. It was during the Arab Spring that the Arabian nations experienced such extensive use of electronic and print media, especially social networking. Along with Twitter, Facebook, Orkut, MySpace and other networking sites, online application and text messages through phones acted as mediums for connecting the rest of the world (Mintz 2012, p. 3-45). Instant upload of pictures, words, documents, violence and activities of political parties left the world in a state of shock. From democratic point of view the Arab Spring clearly points towards the growing popularity as well as strength of social media across Arabian nations, which, presently has also started to interfere into the political scenario (Mahajan 2012, p. 239- 240). Media Trends in Arabian Nations Lately the Arabian Nations have found Information technology very useful in recent years. This has opened up new horizons for information technology in Arabian Nations. New forms of social media are being established on a constant basis along with introduction of newer satellite stations (Al-turk and Byman 2011, p. 45- 48). All these are revolutionary approaches which are attempting to end the monopoly of dominant digital media like the ‘Al Jazzera’. At the same time, censorship rules are also altered in Arabian nations. In Arabian nations, social media and activities of political parties are intricately related to each other. The result is existence of three types of media in Arabian nations. The first one is neutral journalism, the second one is partisan or secretarian media, which is used by governments and political parties to influence the citizens as well as control the local political parties. Thorough social media, these parties have controlled the local issues for decades. (Beinin and Vairel 2011, p 167- 168). Access to numerous online social networking sites has further triggered this debate. Availability and easy access to mobile phones and internet has contributed to national unity and integrity. This has been one of the reasons behind recent uprisings in numerous Arabian nations since 2011 (Beinin and Vairel 2011, p.172- 173). Media: Democratic Ideals of Arabian nations As it has been observed by Cottle (2011, p. 650- 651), political ambitions in Arabian nations are now determined by their youths who are not only broad minded people with positive perspectives about globalization but at the same time are also focused towards the secular aims held by orthodox political parties. A noteworthy feature of Arabian youth is that they are aware of their human rights and therefore display less tolerance for violence inflicted by tension between by political parties. Social networking sites are helping to resurface the old tensions and contradictions regarding religious and political authorities which are vigorously trying to reassert the patriarchal social structure. Due to exposure at global levels, a large section of Arabian people are feeling themselves empowered and equipped. Another feature of use of social media was noticed in Kuwait and Lebanon. Political movements in these Arabian nations were not directly connected with social media, yet the later turned out to be powerful enough to transcend the rate of ‘organic societal change’ among users of social media (Social Media in the Arab World: Influencing Societal and Cultural Change? 2012, pp. 1- 3). In this regard several theories of communication could be referred to. Some of these theories are functionalist theory of Lasswell regarding social media and Granovetter’s theory which primarily deals with international relations. Political activities within a nation are practical implications of active communication system of any nation. In this regard, network theory propounded by Manuel Castell finds relevance. This particular theory attempts to find the potentials of communication network through weak ties. It includes egalitarian nature of social media, anonymity produced due to use of internet, and weak ties. Thus, the theory infers that weak ties prove to be more useful in providing information. They are also used for opening up of opportunities at much lower costs. In case of Arab countries, social media has played the role of forging weak- ties with strangers. However, the strength of any type of communication, especially the ties set-up with help of social networking sites, are directly proportional to aspects such as time duration of communication- in this case time devoted by people of Arab nations to different social networking sites, intensity of emotional feelings or ties, level of intimacy people share as well as mutual confiding, and reciprocation received from other parts of world and also within other parts of Arabian nations. The functionalist theory of Harold Lasswell further emphasizes that the medium of communication, irrespective of nation or state, requires being systematic. Quantitative description provided of content of medium of communication makes the objective behind initiating the communication a success. This has been the reason for adoption of internet, and more precisely social networking tools behind major upheavals and political movements and events in Arabian nations in recent times (Storck 2011, p. 16-18). Social Media and Egyptian Revolution The Egyptian Revolution in 2011 is an instance of growing regional sense of empowerment within Arabian nations. Anti- government movements were observed and the Egyptians reveled after the downfall of President Hosni Mubarak. In opinion of several social media experts, exchange of data and information helped the activists to plan and organize. Media coverage of Western countries further heightened the spirits of activists. Similarly in other parts of Arabia world, digital and print media catalyzed pro- democracy uprisings (Abu-Lubhod and El-Mahdi 2011, pp. 683- 688). The Uprisings of Egypt is also known as ‘Twitter Revolution” since it involved active use of social media, Twitter. During the early stages of uprising in December 2010, it was understood that social media would play a major part in mobilizing different groups. The activists posted comments, uploaded videos and images of tyranny and injustice of governments and violence of political parties. Future course of actions and programs were also regulated by means of different social networking sites. The uprisings made the rest of the world view the plight of women and the horrible and disrespectful manner they are treated by government of different Arabian nations, especially in Egypt (Abu-Lubhod and El-Mahdi 2011, pp. 683- 688). There were huge protests across Egypt and other Arabian nations against this measure. Also, the government had blocked use of internet in Egypt for quite some time, but then had to resume it soon. Though the governments of Egypt and Tunisia arrested uncountable citizens merely for browsing internet or using social media, it failed to control the uprisings. Ever since the uprising, Egypt has the maximum number of people who are into social networking, as compared to other Arabian nations (Stewart 2012, p. 248-250). Social Media: Web Censorship in Arabian Nations Website filtering, monitoring page requests at state routers and blacklisting web addresses has almost become a routine activity in Arabian nations. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) organization is controlled by respective nations’ government and oppositions. Thus, in Arab world circulation or publicizing of democratic ideals are limited. Several Arabian nations, like Yemen have launched their own search engine. These content- aggregators contained only those “news, opinion articles, videos, blog posts, and other discussions” which were approved by respective Arabian nations (Diamond and Plattner 2012, p.11-13). This measure also resulted in curbing the powers of cyber- activists who voice their opinions from time to time against repressive governmental policies. A large number of news channels which hold discussions about human rights, occidental cultures, minority groups and reformist activities are mostly blocked in Arabian nations. Even multimedia- based websites like You Tube, Facebook and blogging sites are not exempted since they act as devices for multimedia-storage. Data from ‘Alkasir Solution for Internet Censorship Mapping and Circulation’ shows that Syria and Saudi Arabia tips the chart of nations with maximum blocked URL, and is closely followed by Yemen, UAE and Bahrain. Egypt, Quatar, Kuwait and other Arabian nations, though in lesser numbers, but have restricted several URLs for the sole purpose of safeguarding national political interests, religious sensitivities, social laws and regulations. However, such stern and extreme measures could not discourage the Arabs. More than 79% people in Arabian nations are reported to make active use of circumvention tools (Diamond and Plattner 2012, p.11- 17). Political scenario in Arabian Nations Politics has been a major issue in almost every other nation in Arabian League. For decades, the nations have been consistently troubled by political movements, upheavals, uprisings, conflicts and violence induced by political parties from time to time, so much so that over a time span of fifty years the political demography of Middle East has changed altogether. Sudan, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Quatar are some of the Arabian nations among others which experience most of these turmoil. A ‘political Islam’ has also contributed to a sense of nationalism for decades. It is often held responsible for the political dysfunction suffered by Arabian nations in modern times. Political ideologies in Arabian nations are not only in conflict with most of the Western countries, but the political visions also clash amongst themselves (Hammond 2007, p 1-3). Methodology Every research work follows a definite pattern or methodology and this research work will be no exception. Research Philosophies Also known as empiricism, this research philosophy requires observation on part of the researcher. Assumption and experience are integral parts of this research philosophy. Determinism research philosophy functions on the concept of ‘cause and effect’. Thus, this research philosophy aims at tracing the grounds or sources behind every event reaction. Interpretivism research philosophy refers to the approach where deeper understanding of concepts and theories are required. In this respect, it is complementary to qualitative research approach, focusing more on perception of reality of individuals (Schmidt, n.d.). Research Design: Selection of most appropriate course is very much important for any research. For this research work, exploratory, explanatory and descriptive research designs will be considered. Exploratory research design is the one where efforts are made to explore any aspect right to its roots. Thus, this research design leads to in- depth study of theories, models and concepts. Explanatory research design involves detailed description of every single type of information used in a research work. This design is particularly useful for analytical purpose. Descriptive research design allows a research work to include numerous events, incidents and all other types of information which involves detailed illustration (Research Methods: Some Notes to Orient You, n.d.). Data Collection: Secondary Sources: In case of secondary sources, data and information that appear in print or websites are taken into consideration. Thus a research work conducted with help of secondary sources involves studying of journals, newspapers, web- sources, articles, etc. One disadvantage of this research approach is that often authenticity of collected information is compromised (Kamins 1993, p. 1- 6). However, it has to be remembered that by using secondary sources, a piece of research work could be benefitted in numerous ways. As secondary sources primarily deal with empirical data that is already established by previous works of research, therefore, there remains lesser chance of inferring invalid or incorrect results in a research. Moreover, secondary sources act a precursor for any research work. Secondary sources saves time of the researcher as one could get easily get access to ample amount of information within a considerable shorter period of time with help of online databases, books, journals (Lockstreom 2007, p. 76-76). For conducting this research work, only secondary source will be used. Since secondary sources pertain to electronic and print database. Numerous books, journal, scholarly articles, magazines, etc. will be referred to find suitable and adequate information about present political scenario, ongoing conflict among Arabian nations, severe political unrest in some Arabian nations, etc. Data Analysis Qualitative Method: In this type of research, subjective approach is being made with help of theories, models, concepts and other types of subjective information. This research approach requires studying of related models, theories and concepts (Silverman 2012, p.3- 12). Quantitative Method: Quantitative research primarily deals with numerical forms. In other words, this type of research approach requires data and information expressed in numerical. Thus, graphs, charts, statistical data, as well as other types of data which are in numerical form are used mostly in this type of research approach (Introduction to Quantitative Research Methods: An Investigative Approach, 2001, p. 48). Qualitative method will be adopted for this research work. Several theories, concepts, news about recent occasions and events in Arabian nations will be used and solutions to the research objectives will be inferred from them. Analysis of reports, media clips, and journals will help in collection of necessary information. Data that will be collected will be from secondary sources. Estimated Time required completing the Dissertation: Gantt chart Activities May June July August September Introduction Literature Review Methodology Analysis and Interpretation of Data Conclusion and Recommendation Conclusion These countries are global powerhouses and some of the most developed nations in terms of wealth, technology and unity. The social media has not only influenced political activities in Arabian nations but at the same time it has provided a way out for young Arabs. It has been observed that a large section of people, especially the youth are disillusioned about news and politics, and find them quite depressing and dull. To this section, social media has opened up a new horizon of entertainment, thereby helping these people to escape from the problems of society and politics (Sakr 2007, p. 93). Press, which was long been a puppet in the hands of government and major political parties in Arabian nations have slowly started to exercise their power and freedom. This tendency was recently observed in press and social media of Egypt. Thus, numerous mediums of social media has brought about drastic changes in customs and patterns of civic engagement, participation of common masses in political affairs, business entrepreneurial activities, globalization and above all social change (Social Media in the Arab World: Influencing Societal and Cultural Change? 2012, p. 2). This research work will be following a definite approach for research work to achieve desired results. References Abu-Lubhod, L. and El-Mahdi, R (2011), ‘Beyond the "Woman Question" in the Egyptian Revolution’, Feminist Studies, vol. 37, no. 3, pp. 683- 691 Al-Deen, H. S. N., Allen, J. and Hendricks (2011), Social media: usage and impact, Lexington Books, US Al-turk, A. and Byman, D. L (2011), The Arab awakening, Brookings Institution Press, US. Beinin, J. and Vairel, F (ed.) 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