Hurry Up and Wait: Oppositional Compliance and Networking around the State in Kuwait

In Chapter 4, data collected through ethnographic research and structured interviews are used to argue that new media tools when used, can profoundly alter social and political practices in Kuwait. Internet use removes inhibitions, gives the public a voice, encourages people to demand access to current, transparent news and information, and enables citizens to become more engaged and active in the world. In the words of one 55 year old female Kuwaiti participant, the Internet “opens the eyes of the younger generation and because of this, they find more freedom to exercise and they can compare freedom in their countries to that in other countries” (Interview, July 2009, Kuwait City). Explanations for the increasingly volatile political and social environment in Kuwait are explored in light of new media use. The persistence of patriarchy in spite of enhanced civic engagement reveals the puzzling nature of oppositional compliance in the emirate.

Fear the State: Repression and the Risks of Resistance in the Middle East

In the authoritarian state system that characterizes Kuwait, Jordan and Egypt, digital citizen activism has been met with increasingly stiff penalties. Egypt has more than 40,000 people in jail for political crimes. Kuwait has revoked the citizenship of individuals who have overtly challenged the state. And Jordan has had a sharp down turn in freedom of expression and civil liberties. In Jordan, new election rules have disempowered Islamist political parties. In all three of these countries, states are fighting to secure increasingly volatile public spheres. But can security and stability be achieved through repression. As so many political thinkers have stressed, states that use violence to maintain legitimacy show signs of increased fragility. This chapter will explore state responses to citizen empowerment in Egypt, Jordan and Kuwait in order to add a more complete analysis of the costs of citizen resistance, both to individuals and the state.

No More Red Lines: Networking around the State in Jordan

Ch. 3 seeks explanations to Jillian Schwedler’s observation that in Jordan, “There are no more red lines” (Schwedler, 2012). Why did King Abdullah and his wife Queen Rania in 2012 become sources of increasingly public critiques by members of Jordanian society. Specifically, what role did Internet use play in promoting new levels of social and political awareness, and collective demands for change. These questions are considered in light of ethnographic insights and Internet user testimonials, which reveal subtle forms of empowerment and enhanced voice among citizens in the practice of everyday life.

IT 4 Regime Change: Networking around the State in Egypt

This chapter takes as a starting point Gene Sharp’s observation that, “the exercise of power depends on the consent of the ruled who, by withdrawing that consent can control and even destroy the power of their opponent” (Sharp, 1973, p. 4). While this observation applies across the three case studies at the core of this book, in the Egyptian state in particular, Internet use allowed citizens to experiment with withdrawing their consent, in ways that were destructive to the status quo over time, but subtle enough to go relatively undetected until the 25 January revolution. Having a voice, both online and off, resulted in, “the exchange of ideas, information and models” which “created an active citizenry” (Bayat, 2010, p. 247). Throughout the Egyptian case study, explanations for an empowered citizenry linked in part with new media use are considered.

Conclusion

Democracy will not come Today, this year Nor ever Through compromise and fear. (Langston Hughes) Politics is the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn’t happen....

The Micro-demise of Authoritarianism in the Middle East: Working around the State in Comparative Perspective

Chapter 5 illustrates the core argument of this book, that ordinary people can create change in small ways by networking around the state. In the service of this argument, the chapter highlights everyday forms of digital resistance in authoritarian political contexts in the Middle East. The three forms of new media empowerment analysed in the chapter include: 1. Digital disclosure to confront bad governance. 2. People to people diplomacy. 3. Social media for social change. These examples of “digital resistance” are based upon public media campaigns against the Egyptian, Turkish, Israeli, Iranian and Saudi states.

A Brief History of Internet Diffusion and Impact in the Middle East

Artefacts and data with which to understand the diffusion and impact of new media in the Middle East collected between 1996-2014, are explored in this chapter. Data on diffusion is provided by charts and tables; while evidence of emerging Internet cultures and their impact are documented with political cartoons, photographs, advertisements, resistance literature, ethnographic insights and conversations with Internet users. This brief history explains why states in the region may be increasingly confronted with restive publics demanding more responsive governance, and provides four distinct lenses through which to view communication and change in the region. Fear, IT4D, Resistance, and Revolution.

Introduction

There’s really no such thing as the ‘voiceless’. There are only the deliberately silenced, or the preferably unheard. (Roy 2004) My taxi driver just said he hates Mubarak. What am I supposed to say? Is this guy crazy? Does he want to be imprisoned? Is he trying to get me to say something that will get me arrested or thrown out of the country? The location was Cairo; the year was 2004, yet the conversation seems like yesterday. This was the first time I sensed a loss of fear and discursive inhibition among Egyptians – a new communication pattern?...