Democratization Through Social Media: Arab Spring 2.0 in Tunisia and Jordan

Abstract

The states such as Tunisia and Jordan which formerly affected with the first wave of Arab Spring has now learning from the lesson, the public has tried to use diplomatic approach towards reaching out the concerned goals which has been delayed for decades since the aftermath of first Arab Spring, namely, democratization. Despite the differences of governance in Tunisia and Jordan, the impact of social media towards democratization has been used as a main theme in this research paper which elements namely government transparency, unemployment, high cost of living and taxes. Thus, in order to further study the impact and effectiveness of social media towards democratization in Tunisia and Jordan, in-depth interviews and content analysis has been used as part of this research method. The finding shows that due to laws and regulations in place to restrict the freedom of speech and expression, the media influence in Jordan and Tunisia grows weaker this time around. The theory of Butterfly-Effect is also being put into test. However, chaos as predicted by this theory is unlikely to occur evidence by the initiatives taken by both governments before the situation worsen like the Arab Spring 1.0.