Leading Protests in the Digital Age

This book explores in detail new protest organisation and mobilisation strategies of young activists in the digital age with the aim to identify the tactics that worked well against those creating high risks in the context of digitally supported protests. Focusing on Egyptian protests as well as peaceful protests in Syria, the book offers rich and unique data as it brings together the experiences and voices of the key figures involved in the protests, both on the ground and online. It challenges perspectives that defined the Arab uprisings as leaderless movements formed through the non-hierarchical communication of digital technologies. The author presents three kinds of leaders that shape the political communication environment in digitally supported protests and highlights the significance of their leadership skills to the movements' capacities. Billur Aslan Ozgul is Lecturer in Political Communication at Brunel University London, UK. Her work on socialmovements, social media and the Middle East has been published in the International Journal of Communication, Participations: Journal of Audience & Reception Studies, and the Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication.

Autorentext
Billur Aslan Ozgul is Lecturer in Political Communication at Brunel University London, UK. Her work on social movements, social media and the Middle East has been published in the International Journal of Communication, Participations: Journal of Audience & Reception Studies, and the Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication.

Inhalt
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. Egypt and Syria: Similarities and differences between two countries
Chapter 3. Three styles of leadership in the Egyptian protests
Chapter 4. Resource mobilisation strategies retested
Chapter 5. Breaking the silence: The efforts of Syrian activists to organise and mobilise digitally supported protests
Chapter 6. How the peaceful protests turned into armed struggles in Syria
Chapter 7. A Comparison of leaders' capabilities and their resources
Chapter 8. Conclusions