Political Mobilization in Autocracies in the Digital Age

Abstract

Chapter 2 first defines the main concepts of the book. It uses the well-known framework of explanations for political protest, consisting of individual motives, resource mobilization, and political opportunity. In comparison to conventional communication technologies such as newspapers, television, and phones, the advent of the Internet affects protest mobilization in different ways: it increases the speed and availability of the network, changes the nature of the transmitted information, and possesses a network structure that can be less susceptible to government interference. The chapter reviews the existing literature on the relationship between Internet technology and protest within the framework of motives, mobilization, and political opportunity. Even though this literature has recognized that the Internet is neither exclusively beneficial nor detrimental to protest mobilization, it still has failed to identify the conditions under which digital technology helps protesters or autocratic governments.