PhD | iRevolutions - 0 views
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Do new information and communication technologies (ICTs) empower repressive regimes at the expense of civil society, or vice versa? For example, does access to the Internet and mobile phones alter the balance of power between repressive regimes and civil society? These questions are especially pertinent today given the role that ICTs played during the recent uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and beyond. Indeed, as one Egyptian activist stated, “We use Facebook to schedule our protests, Twitter to coordinate and YouTube to tell the world.” But do these new ICTs—so called “liberation technologies”—really threaten repressive rule? The purpose of this dissertation is to use mixed-methods research to answer these questions.
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New dataset on protests, ICTs, political and economic variables over 18 years. * New econometric analysis and contribution to quantitative political science. * New conceptual framework to assess impact of ICTs on social, political change. * New operational application of conceptual framework to assess impact of ICTs. * New datasets on independent citizen election observation in repressive states. * New insights into role of ICTs in civil resistance against authoritarian regimes. * New comprehensive literature on impact of ICTs on protests, activism, politics. * New targeted policy recommendations based on data driven empirical analysis. * New lessons learned and best practices in using the Ushahidi platform.
