Orientalism Meets Californian Ideology: A Meta-Analysis of Research on New and Legacy Media’s Role in the Arab Spring, 2011-2016

• In Event: Political Communication in Authoritarian and Non-Democratic Contexts

Abstract

This quantitative meta-analysis takes stock of the state of research on the media and Arab Spring. A total of 121 articles published across 92 journals are examined. Findings suggest that while new media was overwhelmingly the focus of most studies, there is little research on the new media’s role as Arab Spring morphed from peaceful protests to sectarian strife and civil war, especially in places like Syria. We conclude that while scholars have been more than eager to explore how and why Twitter, Facebook, and other new media technologies were bringing about democratic change in Arab countries, they apparently have had little interest in figuring out why the same technologies failed to sustain the protest movements, or what role they might have played as violence erupted in various parts of the region. The study uses the paradigms of Orientalism and the Californian Ideology to explain the results.

Authors

• Saif Shahin, SACA - South Asia Communication Association

• Adam Smidi, Bowling Green State U

• Kisun Kim, Bowling Green State U