From Printing Press to Twitter: What Makes a Technology Pro-Democracy?
7 Feb, 2011
We’ve heard a lot about the role of social media, text messaging, and mobile phones in the uprising in Egypt. A lot has been said to credit them with fueling or at least organizing the protests and with getting word out to the outside…
R e a d M o r eLessons From Egypt : Encouraging Saudi Democracy & Beyond
7 Feb, 2011
I posted recently that the situation in Egypt provides important lessons for US foreign policy. Specifically, the US should have been pressing for democracy in Egypt decades ago, and making US military aid to Egypt contingent on steps towards a free press, free elections, and…
R e a d M o r eEgypt, Twitter, and the Collapse of Top-Heavy Societies
5 Feb, 2011
Watching the news about Egypt and the debate as to whether Twitter, Facebook, etc.. are inherently pro-democracy, I’m struck by a connection to Joseph Tainter’s 1988 classic, The Collapse of Complex Societies. Tainter speculates that societies ultimately face two problems. One, the marginal return on…
R e a d M o r eEgypt: Is Mandatory Conscription Pro-Democracy?
31 Jan, 2011
Watching the situation in Egypt, I’ve been struck repeatedly by how the Army has behaved. Today the Egyptian Army announced that it won’t use force against protesters. Earlier in the protests, we saw reports of Egyptian soldiers shaking hands with protesters and inviting them onto…
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