Rethinking contentious politics in time of pandemic: The challenges of online activism in authoritarian regimes and fragile democracies

Abstract

How has the pandemic changed contentious politics in authoritarian regimes and fragile democracies? The outbreak of Covid-19 legitimized governments from all over the world to ban domestic gatherings and demonstrations. This measure, however, sounds devious in those regimes characterized by a faltered rule of law and facing socio-political grievances that are likely to subvert the status quo. In light of the tightening of individual and collective freedoms justified by the deterioration of the national health situations, several demonstrations shifted online. Many authors focused on the dynamics of contentious politics when it comes to online activism in authoritarian regimes or fragile democracies (Lynch 2011, Greitens 2013, Zayani 2015, Bellin 2017, Norderson 2017). However, the academic debate around this issue is still weak from a comparative perspective and it does not account for current challenges. This panel includes four papers discussing the role of Internet and social media in shaping contentious politics in four different countries - Egypt, Bangladesh, Brazil and Algeria - by drawing on the most recent challenges caused by the outbreak. Notably, the papers are united by the underlying research questions: Does the increasing intensity of online activism change the power relations between illiberal government and their domestic opponents? How are new virtual spaces of contention shaping grassroots mobilizations and national authorities' repression? While in the academic literature the Internet has been celebrated as an empowering tool for grassroots actors to collectively organize and claim their grievances, authoritarian governments are increasingly discovering the potential to censor, by shutting down websites, Facebook pages, and Twitter accounts, and manipulate the digital information flow to their benefit. The overall objective of this panel is to overcome a normative and linear interpretation of the role of the internet and the usage of digital media, by analyzing the dark sides of digital politics (Ekman 2014, Treré 2016) in those contexts characterized by high politicization, where a diversified ecosystem of socio-political actors wish to influence the political order. The issues of digital authoritarianism and the politicization of anti-regime and/or anti-corruption mobilizations in highly conflictual environments will be thus included in the discussion. At the crossroads between social movements studies and social media studies, this panel presents original contributions from different disciplinary backgrounds and crossing different geographical areas of the world.

Title	Details
Social Media Outrage on Fake COVID-19 Tests: Corruption and Contentious politics during the ongoing Pandemic in Bangladesh	View Paper Details
Citizens and their bots sniffing corruption: benefits and limitations of using digital media to expose politicians who misuse public money in Brazil	View Paper Details
Hirak in time of Covid-19: mobilizing from the streets to the digital space in Algeria	View Paper Details