Digital Uprising: The Internet Revolution in the Middle East

ABSTRACT

We use survey data from 2006–2007 to explore the implications of Internet use on political opinion in the Middle East, arguing that the Internet has had an equalizing effect when government filtering is low. Specifically, the findings indicate that Internet use had a positive effect on political knowledge, political participation, and attitudes about the United States/West and a negative effect on trust in government in Middle Eastern countries with relatively low government filtering practices. Conversely, there were no significant effects in countries with high filtering. Thus, the Internet has the potential to serve as an equalizing force in the region but only if filtering is at a minimum.

Keywords:

• Internet filtering
• Internet use
• Middle East
• political behavior

Notes

1. There are two data sources for this study. The survey data used in this study are available at the Web site for the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) (http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/landing.jsp) and from the OpenNet Initiative (http://opennet.net/).

2. Other less sophisticated strategies to avoid filtering and restrictions include using Web sites intended for sports or social interaction to convey political information indirectly (Howard, 2011, pp. 42–46). The Internet is unique as a means to convey information in a largely decentralized way. As a result, it is difficult to limit political communication without heavy-handed tactics that halt otherwise permissible, encouraged, and increasingly needed social and economic exchanges.

3. See the Press Freedom Index for confirmation (http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index-2011-2012,1043.html).

4. We also estimated models for general attitude about democracy across low and high filtering countries, but the results were not significant in either model.