Is internet usage the antidote to authoritarianism in the Middle East? It would be a stretch to argue that Twitter and Facebook can single-handedly undermine the legitimacy of entrenched regimes like Ahmadinejad’s Iran, but a recent survey of Kuwaiti internet users suggests that the web has empowered citizens to at least question — if not directly challenge — the political status quo. Fellow Oman blogger Middle East Nomad alerted me to the study, which was conducted by two American researchers in Kuwait. Last summer, Deborah Mintz and Lauren Wheeler worked with students at the American University in Kuwait to administer a survey aimed at gauging the impact of the
In the Gulf countries, citizens are increasingly using the internet to influence the political process. Photograph: Kamran Jebreili/AP
internet on local political developments. What did they find? 80.5 percent of the Kuwaitis surveyed said they believed that the internet was significantly impacting local politics. This isn’t a ground-breaking revelation, but it does add to a growing body of literature positing a causal connection between internet usage and civic engagement.
Wheeler and Mintz described the study design to The Middle East Channel, a new blog launched by Foreign Policy:
“Last July, we worked with a group of students at the American University in Kuwait to design a unique survey of Internet use in the emirate. The students were given a list of 29 questions and asked to interview a cross section of Kuwaiti Internet users including men and women, young and old, from across the social-class spectrum, including only Kuwaiti nationals. The sample ultimately included 267 Internet users, with ages ranging from 16 to 61. Although this is not based on a random sample, the survey offers a fascinating glimpse into the online life of Kuwait’s wired public.”
The survey respondents shed light on the many ways in which internet usage is strengthening civil society, politicizing the younger generation, and creating opportunities for informed criticism of public officials. One respondent alluded to the state-controlled media establishment, and suggested that the internet gives citizens access to information that is not provided by traditional media: “It makes people see what governments try to block on TV and mislead the people about.” This statement is consistent with what I have been learning recently about the role of blogs and internet forums in Oman’s public sphere, where writers and citizens are using digital media to evade the restrictions imposed on traditional print and broadcast media. The political cultures of Oman and Kuwait are very different, but in both countries, internet users have employed the web to critique the performance of public officials and demand greater accountability.
But although the internet can be used to undermine the legitimacy of authoritarian regimes, it can just as easily be used to reinforce these political systems. In their article, Mintz and Wheeler caution against the premature conclusion that the internet is necessarily a vehicle for progressive political movements and ideas. As the authors note, governments can turn the tables on their cyber-savvy opponents by using the internet to monitor patterns of political dissent. According to Mintz and Wheeler, “In addition to giving publics more information access and networking abilities, the Internet has likewise given more power to the authoritarian state, especially enhanced powers of surveillance.” I have seen this phenomenon at work in Oman, where several of my interviewees have alleged that ministry officials and members of the security apparatus actively troll the online forums to keep tabs on trends in public opinion. One Omani journalist, who has been subpoenaed more than once for criticizing the health care system and for accusing a government official of displacing a public school to build his private residence, said that the government has invested in extremely sophisticated software to pinpoint the IP addresses of internet users who make politically controversial or defamatory statements on the web. While the internet has created new opportunities for challenging the political status quo, it has also been exploited by authoritarian regimes to monitor and repress opponents. When it comes to political reform, the internet is a double-edged sword: it can be harnessed by opposition groups to mobilize public support for political change, while it is simultaneously utilized by incumbent regimes to monitor and track down the dissidents who threaten them.
