Revolutionary Cells: On the Role of Texts, Tweets, and Status Updates in Unarmed Revolutions

The question of the role played by new ICTs in the 2011 revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), particularly those of Tunisia and Egypt, triggered a heated debate among pundits and academic observers. On one side, myriad bloggers, tweeters, journalists and scholars declared these revolutions to be “2.0” in form, i.e., triggered by online activists and won thanks to the Internet. On the other side, critical voices surfaced, claiming that the Internet was merely a tool amongst others used by opponents of dictatorial regimes, and hence less relevant than Internet enthusiasts claim. With this paper we aim at contributing to this debate by going beyond these simplistic contrasts. While it is naïve to contend that the Internet and cell phone communications did not contribute to the positive outcome in Tunisia and Egypt, it would also be historically and theoretically uninformed to suggest that the absence of these technologies would have made the revolutions impossible. By comparing the unarmed revolutions of Tunisia and Egypt in 2011 to the nonviolent Iranian Revolution of 1977–79, we propose a theoretical framework that balances structural conditions with the strategic decisions made by revolutionary agents. We conclude that although new ICTs cannot be directly linked to revolutionary success, such technologies have significantly altered the way revolutions are fought and won.