Twitter-ised Revolution: Extending the Governance Empire

Abstract

In this chapter we challenge the idea that technology is intimately linked to political revolution. We argue that new forms of communication such as Twitter and social networking sites of various kinds act as reinforcements of sociopolitical stratifications, rather than challenging existing political realities. As such, we seek to compare the mass demonstrations that have occurred in Iran and the Ukraine, as well as the recent ‘Occupy’ movements, to critically analyse the political mobilisation supposedly driven by the use of new communication technologies. We will demonstrate Lhat Lhe reinforcement of power relationships, particularly the political mobilisation of subjects in Iran and Ukraine, can be explained as materialisation of the same thing — global governmentality. While technology provides new avenues of communication, it is so heavily biased towards a particular type of user, and so heavily surveilled, that this kind of communication actually acts as a form of governance. Before users of this technology can even begin to enact radical political change, the technology itself already ensures that individuals are part of an existing framework of power relationships. Thus challenging the state becomes an exercise in futility.