New Tools, Old Goals: Comparing the Role of Technology in the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the 2009 Green Movement | Zendy

John Rahaghi | Zendy

AI Assistant Blog Pricing

Home ZAIA Blog

Open Access

New Tools, Old Goals: Comparing the Role of Technology in the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the 2009 Green Movement

Author(s) -

John Rahaghi

Publication year - 2012

Publication title -

journal of information policy

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 0.377

H-Index - 5

eISSN - 2381-5892

pISSN - 2158-3897

DOI - 10.5325/jinfopoli.2.2012.151

Subject(s) - grassroots , facilitation , social movement , key (lock) , movement (music) , component (thermodynamics) , political science , computer science , public relations , computer security , law , politics , philosophy , physics , thermodynamics , aesthetics

What is the role of communications technologies in the success (or failure) of modern revolutions? Mr. Rahaghi offers lessons from a comparison of their use in the 1979 and 2009 popular movements in Iran. Why did one using audiocassettes and pamphlets succeed, but the other using Twitter and Facebook fail? Rahaghi concludes that technology alone is no substitute for structure, leadership, grassroots organizing, and a concrete agenda people can rally behind. Technology cannot replace the fundamentals of organization, but it can help enhance and facilitate them. However, social networking tools could provide a key facilitation component to future social movements given the right circumstances. Recognition of how these communication tools could be incorporated into a larger strategy is what is necessary to achieve overall success.

The content you want is available to Zendy users.

Already have an account? Click here to sign in.

Having issues? You can contact us here

Accelerating Research