The Transnational Effects of Social Media in the Arab Spring. The Cases of Egypt and Tunisia

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2014 in the subject Politics - Region: Africa, grade: 1,3, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, language: English, abstract: The goal of this thesis is to contribute to the debate on the impact and influence of social media in the Arab Spring. While numerous studies have addressed individual factors, they generally lack a broad theoretical framework that puts the findings into a compiled perspective. Understanding the dynamics of the Arab uprisings implies a perspective that takes transnational processes into account and is not limited to a case by case assessment. Hence, this thesis will focus on the transnational effects of social media in the Arab Spring, by introducing a diffusion model, displaying the importance of sequence and timing of communication, organization and mobilization. To begin with, (2) the current state of research focusing on protest politics and social media communication will be examined to understand the context of the broad scholarly debate. Secondly, (3) method and case selection will be briefly outlined. Subsequently, (4) the theoretical framework and relevance of the contagion thesis will be introduced. The cases of Tunisia and Egypt will be examined and assessed in (5), looking at the factors sparking the protests, the process and dynamics of the uprisings themselves, the role of social media, and the immediate political outcomes. Hereafter, (6) the contagion thesis will be tested by compiling the findings of previous studies and introducing the diffusion model, demonstrating the transnational effects of social media. Conclusively, (7) the findings will be summarized and put into perspective with the broad theoretical framework.