This dissertation explores the role of social media in political activism in authoritarian societies, using as case studies the use of YouTube as an alternative channel of communication and resistance during the political crises in Pakistan, Tunisia, and Egypt. I studied Pakistan because it is one of the few majority Muslim countries in which social media were part of the media mix during the mass uprisings that led to the overthrow of the regime of military leader, General Pervez Musharraf in 2007. Tunisia and Egypt were chosen because these two countries are seen as the iconic nations of the Arab Spring 2011. The study argues that the term "Arab Spring" itself limits the scope of ongoing online and offline political uprisings in the Muslim World, which is spreading beyond the geographical boundaries of the Middle East. The investigation uses "social movements" as defined and theorized by Hirschman (1970), Lohmann (1994), Olson (1965), and Tarrow (1994; 1998) as its theoretical foundation, in order to describe and explain how YouTube was part of the information activism of the social movements that sprang up during the revolutions in Pakistan, Tunisia and Egypt. A comparative methodological approach enables me to analyze the "most viewed" YouTube videos of political protests in the three countries. By examining a purposive sample of 60 most viewed protest-related YouTube videos, the study explores how these videos served as a "voice," (alternative channels of communication) when the authoritarian governments controlled all the media in the three countries. Using quantitative content analysis and thematic analysis approaches, the study investigates YouTube's role and content during Pakistan's political crisis of 2007, and compares it with that platform's role as an alternative avenue of communication, as well as its content in the 2011 political uprising in Tunisia and Egypt, which are the core of the Arab Spring in North Africa. Eight research questions were asked for this investigation. These questions were derived from Hirschman (1970), Lohmann (1994), Tarrow (1998), and Perlmutter's (1998) works. Issues that were investigated in these questions include: identifying the cultural and ideological frames used in the most viewed videos of each revolution, YouTube videos as "informational cascades," Al-Jazeera's role as "informational cascade," YouTube videos as a "Voice," and the most iconic images of each revolution. The findings of these research questions suggest that in the absence of traditional media sources, YouTube can serve as an alternative platform of communication and dissent. The study finds that the social movements in the three countries (The Lawyers' Movement of 2007 in Pakistan, the so-called Jasmine Revolution of Tunisia (2010), and the Arab Spring of Egypt 2011) utilized YouTube as an alternate channel of communication to disseminate information on political protests against the dictatorial regimes for purposes of promoting resistance. The visual content analysis of these videos revealed that the YouTube videos of political protests utilized common religious and national ideologies as a part of cultural and ideological frames to spread the narratives of political protests online. The findings of this study support that the most viewed videos contributed to serve as informational cascades for the observers (YouTube viewers) of these protest-related videos. The findings also highlight that the pan-Arabic TV channel Al-Jazeera utilized YouTube as an alternative platform to disseminate its protest-related videos, particularly when the channel was banned in the three countries. The visual content analysis of the most viewed videos of protests suggest that social movements in Pakistan, Tunisia and Egypt used YouTube to amplify their voice against corruption, unemployment, and authoritarianism in the three countries. The findings of this dissertation identify that three images (one from each country) were treated as the icons of outrage in the 60 most viewed protest-related videos. These icons of outrage include the images of Mohamed Bouazizi's self-immolation (Tunisia), torture-disfigured face of Khaled Said (Egypt), and the arrest of Pakistani Chief Justice, Iftikhar Chaudry. Based on its findings, the dissertation argues that the ongoing political struggle in Muslim-majority countries is a much bigger phenomenon than the "Arab Spring." This study also makes a strong case that Pakistan experienced online informational activism long before the Arab Spring of 2011. Since political communication in Pakistan is a relatively under-researched field, academic archives do not provide sufficient information on the role and emergence of social media in the country, including how the new modes of digital communication serve as alternative channels of political activism against dictatorship. This dissertation intends to fill this void. The study also contributes to the existing literature on communication, social movements and political activism, which is predominantly specific to Western settings. Since this study applies Western approaches of social movements to non-Western settings, it helps to explicate the applicability of such approaches to non-Western societies and contexts. Furthermore, it is important to understand the role of social media as alternative channels of communication in closed, authoritarian societies where the traditional media serve only the interests of the ruling elites. In addition, the study helps to explain how the increasingly popular social media, e.g. YouTube, are contributing to civil liberties by challenging the authoritarian regimes of the Muslim World.

Können Araber Demokratie? Im Jahr II des Arabischen Frühlings werden erste zarte Triebe der Hoffnungen, die in diese Richtung neigten, von Soldatenstiefeln und flüchtenden Demonstranten zertreten. Die versiegelte Zeit brach auf, doch was ist erreicht worden? In der neuen Ausgabe ziehen wir eine Bilanz, die ebenso sachlich wie zwiespältig ist. Sie zeigt Erfolge, ohne zu beschönigen. Probleme werden sichtbar gemacht, aber auch Wege zu ihrer Lösung. Auch Europa ist gefragt: Wir müssen zu einem neuen, partnerschaftlichen Verhältnis mit den sich wandelnden arabischen Nationen finden!

Today there exists a legal norm that declares the existence of a global responsibility to protect civilians from mass atrocities. Previous doctrines of non-intervention and permissibility were inadequate and demonstrated the need for a new outlook. From a commission proposal to international acceptance the doctrine of a responsibility to protect (R2P) developed quickly and legitimately. Recent events, especially the events in Libya during the Arab Spring, highlight the conceptual evolution of the norm and, more importantly, an international acceptance of its binding quality. Therefore, it is apparent R2P has achieved the status of a legal norm of international law.

Today there exists a legal norm that declares the existence of a global responsibility to protect civilians from mass atrocities. Previous doctrines of non-intervention and permissibility were inadequate and demonstrated the need for a new outlook. From a commission proposal to international acceptance the doctrine of a responsibility to protect (R2P) developed quickly and legitimately. Recent events, especially the events in Libya during the Arab Spring, highlight the conceptual evolution of the norm and, more importantly, an international acceptance of its binding quality. Therefore, it is apparent R2P has achieved the status of a legal norm of international law.

The Arab spring has been called a social media revolution and social media have been given large importance and significant space in both academic discussions and analysis in the media. The main focus of this study was to examine whether social media have impacted the news reporting of the conflicts. A sample of articles from four different newspapers was examined, taken randomly from all relevant articles published on the newspapers websites between December 2010 and December 2013. A part of that sample was checked for news agency cable reliance and the entire sample were checked for material from social media. Three newspapers were found to rely heavily on news agency material. The New York Times was the exception, having only 4 percent of articles being based on news agency material. Social media material and quotes were found and were used in the report-ing in different ways, but only in 4 percent of articles. It was mainly used as a way to get protester commentary. Two of the included newspapers were China Daily and the New York Times. The differences between the respective reporting in these newspapers were also examined in yet an-other subsample consisting of 100 articles from each newspaper. Several differences be-tween the reporting were found, with China Daily for example presenting a framing more in favour of the government of Syria than the New York Times.

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This dissertation was conducted to determine whether Egyptians’ use of Facebook between December 17, 2010 and February 11, 2011 affected their perceptions of majority and minority opinions about President Hosni Mubarak’s government and thus influenced their willingness to express their opinions about that regime, in turn forming a new online public opinion that called for the January 25 revolution. For the purpose of this study, the theoretical framework was the spiral of silence theory. To answer the research questions in this dissertation the researcher used the qualitative approach, combining in-depth interviews with Egyptian Facebook users and qualitative content analysis of their Facebook pages. The results show that as Egyptians used Facebook, they came to believe that others held beliefs about the Mubarak regime similar to their own, they became more hopeful and confident that they could make a difference, and they became more likely to speak out about their opinions. As more voices began to be heard, more voices joined in the chorus of condemnation. These data suggested that the use of Facebook, as a means both of perception and expression, helped facilitate the formation of what can be called a “spiral of voice” among growing numbers of Egyptians. It was concluded that Noelle-Neumann’s spiral of silence may well have been an accurate description of public opinion formation in an age of government-controlled media, but that spiral of voice may be a better descriptor of public opinion formation and action in the age of social media.

This dissertation explores the role of female political actors in the gendered rebuilding of Tunisia’s post-Ben Ali political infrastructure and how gender both informed and featured in the early stages of the democratic transition. Drawing on thirteen months of fieldwork and over 300 hours of interviews, it narrates a yet untold story of the transformation of female political actors from object to subject of the state. In the post-revolutionary political terrain, gender and women’s rights were imbued with broader discursive significance, becoming a vehicle through which to distinguish two broad political categories of Islamism and secularism, which showcased continuity with the historical deployment of gender in pre-independence and post-colonial authoritarian contexts. However, analysis of the development of gender parity legislation from its introduction in the interim electoral law in advance of the 2011 elections, through the constitutional and electoral law drafting processes, and its implementation in the 2014 elections, reveals the inadequacy of gender as a metaphor for broad political characterisations and the fluidity of the Tunisian political terrain as seen through a gendered lens. It was only through the collaborative work of female political actors across the ideological spectrum within the National Constituent Assembly that the foundational texts of the Second Republic were gendered, acknowledging and addressing the ways that the lived experiences of women, as socially and historically constituted subjects, can mediate access to rights. By virtue of this process, these female deputies, whose own subjectivities were transformed through interaction with male-dominated political institutions, enacted and embodied new modes of the female citizen as subject. Finally, in tracing the development of the gender parity laws through the formative years of Tunisian democracy, this dissertation illuminates the ways in which access to newly democratised political power remains gendered, mediated through the complex interplay between larger political, social, and economic structures.

Este estudo teve por objetivo comparar grupos de mídia ocidentais e não ocidentais no que diz respeito à guerra na Síria, em curso desde 2011, no rastro das chamadas primaveras árabes. Foi realizada uma analises de conteúdo, quantitativa e qualitativa, seguindo parâmetros de Herman e Chomsky em A manipulação do Público (2003), porém adaptados à mídia global. Na divisão dos veículos, utilizou-se o conceito de mídias do fluxo dominante e do contra fluxo, para ilustrar a posição dos grupos analisados em relação ao atual panorama global da mídia. Os resultados apontaram para uma cobertura global da guerra na Síria polarizada, alinhada com interesses geopolíticos, e com maior unidade no Ocidente. Como conclusão, a hegemonia dos conglomerados ocidentais midiáticos ou o fluxo dominante da mídia global ditou a pauta mundial sobre a crise na Síria, em um espaço de disputa com as mídias no contra fluxo. Estas vão buscando expor melhor seus interesses e os de seus países, à medida que a guerra na Síria começa a afetá-los / This study aimed to compare Western media groups and non-Western regarding to the war in Syria, ongoing since 2011, in the wake of the so-called \"arab spring\". An content analysis, quantitative and qualitative was conducted following Herman and Chomsky parameters in Manufacturing Consent (2003), but adapted to the global media. In the groups division, we used the concept of media dominant flow and contra flow (THUSSU, 2007), to illustrate the position of the groups analyzed in relation to the current global panorama of the media. The results showed an overall coverage of the war in polarized Syria, in line with geopolitical interests and greater unity in the West. In conclusion, the Western media hegemony promoted by media Western conglomerates in a dominant flow of global media, dictated an agenda on the Syria crisis, in a space of content with the media in contra flow. These will seeking to better expose their interests and those of their countries, as far as the war in Syria begins to affect them

This essay consists of a case study of Tunisian democratization process which came along the events of the Arab spring in 2010-11. The aim of the research is to understand why Tunisia took a distinctive path during the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa in 2010-11. The case study is within the theoretical framework of traditional democratization literature. These theories are modernization theory, historical sociology and the agency approach. Using the methodological approach of qualitative content analysis, I have analyzed academic articles and come to the conclusion that seven factors played a crucial role for democracy in Tunisia: (1) increased level of education, (2) increased level of information, (3) existing formal and informal organizations in the civil society, (4) transnational power structure, (5) the size of coercive apparatus, (6) compromises among political actors and (7) existing political community. I argue that both the structure of the civil society and the political foundation in Tunisia played a vital role for the distinctive path it took towards democracy.