The School of Media and Public Affairs at GW invites you to a guest lecture by

Associate Professor Phil Howard, University of Washington

Leading expert on the role of new information technologies in political systems

The Digital Origins of Democracy:

Information Technology and Political Islam

September 15, 2011, 4:00 PM

The George Washington University

21^st Street NW & H Street, NW
Marvin Center, Room 309 (Changed from 302)
Free and Open to the Public

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Talk Abstract: Do new information technologies advance democratization?  Among the diverse countries with large Muslim communities, how do such technologies provide capacities and constraints on institutional change?  What are the ingredients of the modern recipe for democratic transition or democratic entrenchment?  Around the developing world, political leaders face a dilemma: the very information and communication technologies that boost economic fortunes also undermine power structures.

Globally, one in ten internet users is a Muslim living in a populous Muslim community. In these countries, young people are developing their political identities-including a transnational Muslim identity-online. In countries where political parties are illegal, the internet is the only infrastructure for democratic discourse. And in countries with large Muslim communities, mobile phones and the internet are helping civil society build systems of political communication independent of the state and beyond easy manipulation by cultural or religious elites. 

With evidence from fieldwork in Azerbaijan, Egypt, Tajikistan and Tanzania, and using the latest fuzzy-set statistical models, I demonstrate that communications technologies have played a crucial role in advancing democracy in Muslim countries. Certainly, no democratic transition has occurred solely because of the internet. But, as I argue, no democratic transition can occur today without the internet. In the last 15 years, technology diffusion trends have contributed to clear political outcomes, and digital media have become a key ingredient in the modern recipe for democratization.  Most relevant, these models help explain the causes and consequences of the Arab Spring and ongoing crises in Libya, Syria and Yemen.

Biography: Philip N. Howard is associate professor of communication, information and international studies at the University of Washington.  His books include New Media Campaigns and the Managed Citizen (Cambridge, 2005) and The Digital Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy (Oxford, 2011).  Currently, he directs the NSF-funded "Project on Information Technology and Political Islam" (www.pitpi.org).