Cyberactivism and ongoing political transformation: The case of Bahrain

Abstract

The ongoing political resistance and civic engagement movements that have been sweeping the Arab world since 2011, and came to be widely referred to as the “Arab Spring” or “Arab Awakening,” have empowered large segments of the region’s populations across different countries. We argue that the assumption that the Gulf region, unlike other Arab spring countries, is going to remain politically stagnant and largely immune from this sweeping tide of socio-political change, due to factors such as economic affluence, oil revenues, small and homogeneous populations, robust security forces, and support from foreign superpowers, is inaccurate and faulty.