In this report from the United States Institute of
Peace’s Centers of Innovation for Science, Technology,
and Peacebuilding, and Media, Conflict, and
Peacebuilding, a team of scholars from The George
Washington University, in cooperation with scholars
from Harvard University and Morningside Analytics,
critically assesses both the “cyberutopian” and
“cyberskeptic” perspectives on the impact of new
media on political movements. The authors propose a
more complex approach that looks at the role of new
media in contentious politics from five interlocking
levels of analysis: individual transformation, intergroup
relations, collective action, regime policies, and external
attention. The authors are particularly indebted
to Sheldon Himelfarb of the Centers of Innovation
for his support and contributions to this project. The
authors would also like to thank research assistants
Brett Borrowman, Juliet Guaglianone, Chris Mitchell,
and Rachel Whitlark.