New media in the Arab world. (c2011)

Abstract

This thesis highlights the role of new media in shaping public discourse and redesigning geopolitical realities in the Arab World. It examines the interrelation between media and politics as revealed by the Arab popular uprisings that swept away regional status quos in 2011. New media in general and Al Jazeera in particular were able to foster public dynamics and control their trajectories. The result was an introduction of the public sphere as an active player in shaping political realities and reconstructing the Arab World on different grounds. The new power formula also introduced media-sponsoring states as key players in the region. Qatar was greatly able to expand its leverage through “organic intellectuals” hosted by Al Jazeera to take part in the interactive discourse with the public. Moreover, the media effect created a turbulent stage with open possibilities, thus allowing foreign states to intervene in molding the new scene and drawing its horizons. Media escalation triggered an uncontrolled domino effect which threatened national identities and regional balances. It enticed previously contained dynamics in Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Syria, and Bahrain; and when developments broke loose from all restraining factors, as in the case of Libya, soft power was replaced by military intervention and the domestic character of the Libyan uprising gained international dimensions and was further complicated. The thesis presents an analysis of the phenomena uncovered by the media-politics interchange and finally suggests that new media will maintain its presence as an influential intruder in shaping the dialectical interplay between regional players in the foreseen future.