The Fragility of Current Political Movements

Infocommunication technologies became inherent in current political activities. Mobile communication and the internet play a fundamental part in the organization and communication of new protest movements. Zeynep Tufekci’s book Twitter and Tear Gas introduces key organizational and operational features of these new ’networked protests’. The author focuses on how reliance on technological context may aid and obstruct reaching the goals of these movements. According to Tufekci, ICTs make collective action faster and more efficient, they enhance communication and recruitment, but at the same time they seem to have little impact on the improvement of the electoral potential of protests.