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CFP: American Behavioral Scientist special issue on the role(s) of new
media in social unrest.

Please share as appropriate.(Call also available at:
http://technosociology.org/?page_id=557)

Guest editors:Zeynep Tufekci (University of North Carolina)
Deen G.Freelon (American University)

In recent years, new media have become increasingly prominent in
contexts of social contention ranging from the election protests in
Iran in 2009 to the more recent Arab uprisings, the social unrest in
the United Kingdom, and the “Occupy” movement in the United States and
elsewhere. Popular commentators and politicians have heaped both
praise and blame upon new media as instigators of democratic uprisings
or social unrest. We seek to deepen and contextualize this debate
through theoretically-rich, empirically-grounded scholarly articles to
be published in a special issue of the American Behavioral Scientist
in the Summer/Fall of 2012.

We invite contributions from a wide range of scholarly perspectives
that examine the role of new media in contentious politics. All
applicable theories, methods, and data are welcome.

Possible article topics include:
- How does the diffusion of new media interact with dissent and/or
social unrest in different contexts?
- How do ruling regimes use new media to monitor or otherwise undermine dissent?
- What factors condition more or less prominent roles for new media in protests?
- How do new and old media interact during periods of social unrest?
- What are differences and similarities in new media use for dissent
in democratic and authoritarian countries?
- How do different actors use new media for contentious politics?
- Are new media primarily used by protest participants, geographically
distant spectators, or both?
- What is the interaction between new media platforms and
characteristics of social unrest?
- How do mainstream reporters/citizen journalists/artists/etc.use new
media to report on protest events?

Please send your article title, abstract, and a list of five potential
reviewers to [log in to unmask] by December 14, writing “ABS [first
author] abstract submission” in the Subject field. The submission of
your abstract will help us identify reviewers and speed up the review
process.

Completed articles should be submitted by February 1, 2012 to
[log in to unmask], writing “ABS [first author] paper submission” in
the Subject field be considered for inclusion. All articles will
undergo peer review. Manuscripts should follow APA style and be
limited to around 30 double-spaced pages.

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