The digital origins of dictatorship and democracy: information technology and political islam

This book looks at the role that communications technologies play in advancing democratic transitions in Muslim countries. As such, its central question iswhether technology holds the potential to substantially enhance democracy. Certainly, no democratic transition has occurred solely because of the internet.But, as Philip Howard argues, no democratic transition can occur today without the internet. Drawing upon material from interviews with telecommunications policy makers and activists in Azerbaijan, Egypt, Tajikistan and Tanzania and a comparative study of 74 countries with large Muslim populations, Howard demonstrates that these forums have been the means to organize activist movements that have lead to successful democratic insurgencies. INDICE: Acknowledgements; Prologue: Revolution in the Middle East Will be Digitized; Introduction: Political Communication and Contemporary Muslim Media Systems; 1.: Evolution and Revolution, Transition and Entrenchment; 2.: Lineages of the Digital State; 3.: Political Parties Online; 4.: New Media & Journalism Online; 5.: Civil Society and Systems of Political Communication; 6.: Censorship and the Politics of Cultural Production; Conclusion: Information Technology and Democratic Islam; References; Index

• ISBN: 978-0-19-973642-3
• Editorial: Oxford University
• Encuadernacion: Rústica
• Páginas: 256
• Fecha Publicación: 30/09/2010
• Nº Volúmenes: 1
• Idioma: Inglés