Analyzing the Role of Internet and Social Networks in Middle East and North African Revolutions: Theory and Practice

From the end of the year 2010 till now, Arab and Muslim countries of the Middle East and North Africa were subjected to sociopolitical unrests; some revolutions happened in some countries and in some countries such as Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen had victories. Also unrests are undergone in Bahrain and Syria that may lead to revolution. Recent revolutions were the new wave of democratization in the Middle East and North Africa. These unrests are titled “Arab Spring” in the west and “Islamic Spring” and “Islamic Awakening” in Iran. Mentioned revolutions are the first ones that happened after the advent of Internet and revolution in social media, so one of the important subjects about the developments and unrests in the region. This article explains the role of Internet and social networks such as Face book, Twitter and You Tube in the Middle East and North African Revolutions. Author believes that Internet and social networks are one of the major aspects of the recent revolutions in MENA. This factor is not as a major and structural factor, but as a minor and catalyst factor in the events. Meanwhile the effectiveness of them differs from one country to another.