States, Power, and Societies FALL 2013 2

FALL 2013 STATES, VOLUME 19 / ISSUE 1 POWER, AND Political Sociology Section SOCIETIES American Sociological Association Symposium: In this Issue The Implications of Social Media for Book Abstracts 11 Democracy The growth of social media has yielded direct consequences on Article & Chapter Abstracts 15 political action, as witnessed by its enduring role in protest Grant Abstract 17 mobilization. Citizens and state actors alike now broadcast their claims on a scale unforeseen even a decade ago, simultaneously New Journals & Special Issues 17 presenting both opportunities and challenges to the democratic process. Given the role of social media on protest mobilization, Section Announcements 19 which (if any) consequences to political participation arise from On the Scholarly Legacy of digital divide effects whereby access to online communication is Juan Linz, 1926-2013 27 unequal? To what extent does state surveillance of digital media temper political engagement both online and off? Does citizens' Interview with Award Recipient: access to state actors through digital media result in increased Christopher A. Bail 31 accountability and do online transparency initiatives truly create a more informed voting public? For this symposium, we invite our Journal Review: contributors to critically reflect upon the World Politics 33 substantive political changes which have Section Officers resulted from widespread technological Chair Blog Profile: Ann Mische adoption and in which ways this adoption Mobilizing Ideas 35 Past Chair has recreated existing limitations to Judith Stepan-Norris democracy. Chair Elect Isaac William Martin Capabilities of Movements and Affordances of Secretary-Treasurer Digital Media: Paradoxes of Empowerment Rhys H. Williams Council By Zeynep Tufekci Anne N. Costain University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Kathleen M. Fallon Gregory Hooks From the “Indignados” in Spain, to “Occupy” in the United States, from Catherine Lee Tahrir Square in Egypt to Syntagma Square in Greece, from Gezi Park in Stephanie Lee Mudge Turkey to #Euromaidan in Ukraine, the recent years have witnessed a Edward T. Walker proliferation of protests which, while embedded in differing Newsletter Editor Continued on Page 2. Benjamin E. Lind Webmaster Jason O. Jensen Other Symposium Article • Fabio Rojas, “Digital Democracy is Here: Let’s Measure It” 6 Contact us! [email protected] Newsletter formatting by Rachael R. Chatterson States, Power, and Societies FALL 2013 2 Symposium Essay: Paradoxes of Empowerment Continued from Page 1. NGOs, they involved prolonged occupations of circumstances and specific grievances, share public spaces with attempts to establish multiple characteristics. Social media, an “alternative” living spaces. These occupations integral aspect of all these movements, is not a were more than mere instrumental steps and mere “tool” that is external to the often became integral to the identity of the organizational and cultural structure of these protests. None of these mobilizations had movements. Instead, it has become increasingly recognizable leaders or established clear that communication is a form of spokespersons. Rotating, flexible, ad hoc organization, and the form of communication structures arose in response to perceived needs strongly interacts with the form of organization. of the protests and took up functional roles Digital media come with a particular set of which ebbed and flowed with the mobilization. affordances, practices they allow and make Surveys and interviews revealed that the easy, which translate into specific capabilities of protesters were frustrated with, and expected the collective and individual actors that use little from, traditional institutions of civic them. Here, “capabilities” is used in the sense engagement, political parties, unions, and other developed by Amartya Sen, as the set of organizations; remained suspicious of functionalities a given actor can undertake. The delegation, authority, and representation; and capabilities afforded to social movements by were disdainful of mass media, which they saw new technologies both condition and are as shutting out their concerns. Testifying to the conditioned by the specificities of political centrality of social media to their identity, the mobilizations. method by which a Twitter user can tag her Forefronting affordances and capabilities, tweets as relating to an event or a subject, the instead of focusing on platforms or tools, allow hashtag, often became the identifying label of for analytic depth without getting tangled in the the protests themselves. These tags include specifics of the technology. Paradoxically, it’s #ows, #euromaidan, #direngezi, #jan25, #m15, possible that the widespread use of digital tools and #syntagma. facilitate capabilities in some domains, such as These mobilizations also displayed a organization, logistics, and publicity, while propensity to “fizzle out,” at least in the short simultaneously engendering hindrances to term, in a manner disproportionate to their movement impacts on other domains, including size, energy, and enthusiasm when viewed those related to policy and electoral spheres. through the lens of policy impact. After a stint by the Muslim Brotherhood, whose traditional 2011-2013: Occupations, Mobilizations and electoral organization trumped the more Revolutions secular activists whose social-media amplified These protests of 2011-2013 surprised most voices were the face of the Egyptian uprising for observers, arising suddenly and often Western audiences, Egypt became ruled now by surpassing expectations with regard to the military, whose guns in turn trumped the longevity, energy, and participation. Not electoral success of the Muslim Brotherhood. primarily organized by traditional actors like The Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AKP) political parties, trade unions, or established government in Turkey appears poised to win States, Power, and Societies FALL 2013 3 Symposium Essay: Paradoxes of Empowerment reelection strongly with little to no noticeable fulfilled some of the early predictions of its impact from the Gezi protests. European potential to transform the dynamics of austerity policies, the subjects of huge multi- mobilization. Protesters in various movements country protests, continue unabated. have successfully used social media for Of course, the longer-term impacts of these organization, coordination, mobilization, and mobilizations remain to be seen, and are logistics, shaping their own narrative, already suggested in multiple ways. The broadcasting to large publics, fostering internal election of Hassan Rouhani as President of Iran, dialogue, bridging to external audiences, and and his turn to softer policies compared to his building both cultural as well as ideological predecessor, coupled with a forceful foray into formations. social media that included a “will.i.am”-style Social media affordances have altered which music video celebrating Iran’s diversity of capabilities underlie the ability to mount beliefs, can likely be partly attributed to the popular mobilizations. For example, in the past, “Green Revolution.” Similarly, we witnessed a the capability to organize a large-scale march rise in discussions on inequality in the U.S. on Washington, or a bus boycott in public sphere, likely due partially to the Occupy Montgomery, required extensive organization, movement. It’s also possible that these coordinating everything from car pools to movements will have significant “biographical laboriously publishing pamphlets to setting up impacts” as their mode of existence, including many meetings that in turn determine sustained occupations, may well prove organizational and logistical issues. Similarly, transformational for some segment of the battling for visibility through broadcast media participants. This essay is not meant to dismiss often required investing in institutions that these movements as “unimpactful” but rather became familiar with the workings of media to examine the seeming lack of connection and power. between their size, energy, and scope to In contrast, modern mobilizations often turn traditional measures of movement success to social media for coordination, logistics, such as policy or electoral outcomes. For that, I publicity and more. For example, four young turn to an examination of the particular people in their early twenties, with no military organizational and cultural aspects of these or logistics training, coordinated the setup of movements as embedded in and enabled by ten sizable field hospitals during the deadly, social media. massive clashes near Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt in 2011 using Twitter, spreadsheets and Social Media Fabric of Modern documents on the Internet (through Google Mobilizations: Communication As Docs), along with cell phones to keep in touch Organization with multiple points. (Bear in mind that dozens Going back to the anti-electoral fraud of people were killed and thousands were protests of 2009 in Iran, which gave rise to treated at these field hospitals staffed by #iranelections and the first solid demonstration volunteer doctors and nurses, so this was not a of social media’s central role in modern protest minor operation to organize or supply). During mobilization, it appears that social media has the initial uprising of January/February 2011, States, Power, and Societies FALL 2013 4 Symposium Essay: Paradoxes of Empowerment Egyptian activists befuddled all censorship many details of mobilization. This argument is attempts and

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