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For centuries, philosophers, politicians, and social scientists have explored and commented on the nature of power. Pittacus (c. 640-568 B.C.E.) opined, “The measure of a man is what he does with power,” and Lord Acton perhaps more famously asserted, “Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely” (1887). Indeed, the concept of power can have decidedly negative connotations, and the term itself is difficult to define.
Many scholars adopt the definition developed by German sociologist Max Weber, who said that power is the ability to exercise one’s will over others (Weber 1922). Power affects more than personal relationships; it shapes larger dynamics like social groups, professional organizations, and governments. Similarly, a government’s power is not necessarily limited to control of its own citizens. A dominant nation, for instance, will often use its clout to influence or support other governments or to seize control of other nation states. Efforts by the U.S. government to wield power in other countries have included joining with other nations to form the Allied forces during World War II, entering Iraq in 2002 to topple Saddam Hussein’s regime, and imposing sanctions on the government of North Korea in the hopes of constraining its development of nuclear weapons.
Endeavors to gain power and influence do not necessarily lead to violence, exploitation, or abuse. Leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Mohandas Gandhi, for example, commanded powerful movements that affected positive change without military force. Both men organized nonviolent protests to combat corruption and injustice and succeeded in inspiring major reform. They relied on a variety of nonviolent protest strategies such as rallies, sit-ins, marches, petitions, and boycotts.
Modern technology has made such forms of nonviolent reform easier to implement. Today, protesters can use cell phones and the internet to disseminate information and plans to masses of protesters in a rapid and efficient manner. In Tunisia in 2011, for example, a nonviolent popular uprising led to the president’s resignation, ushered in the end of one-party rule, and paved the way for efforts at reform. The success of the Tunisian uprising, broadcast worldwide via Twitter feeds and other social media, was an inspiration to political activists in other countries as well (a spread of demonstrations that the media called the “Arab Spring”). Notice that, in this example, the users of power were the citizens rather than their governments. They found they had power because they were able to exercise their will over their own leader. Thus, government power does not necessarily equate with absolute power.
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Did Facebook and Twitter Cause the Arab Spring?:
Recent movements and protests that were organized to reform governments and install democratic ideals in northern African and the Middle East have been collectively labeled “Arab Spring” by journalists. In describing the dramatic reform and protests in these regions, journalists have noted the use of internet vehicles like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, some even implying that this technology has been instrumental in spurring these reforms. In a nation with a strong capacity for media censorship, social sites provided an opportunity for citizens to circumvent authoritarian restrictions (Zuckerman 2011).
As discontents in northern Africa used the Internet to communicate, it provided them with an invaluable tool: anonymity. John Pollock (2011), in an authoritative analysis published in MIT’s Technology Review, gave readers an intriguing introduction to two transformative revolutionaries named “Foetus” and “Waterman,” who are leaders in the Tunisian rebel group Takriz. Both men relied heavily on the internet to communicate and even went so far as to call it the “GPS” for the revolution (Pollock 2011). Before the internet, meetings of protestors led by dissidents like Foetus and Waterman often required participants to assemble in person, placing them at risk of being raided by government officials. Thus, leaders would more likely have been jailed, tortured—and perhaps even killed—before movements could gain momentum.
The Internet also enabled widespread publicity about the atrocities being committed in the Arab region. The fatal beating of Khaled Said, a young Egyptian computer programmer, provides a prime example. Said, who possessed videos highlighting acts of police corruption in Egypt, was brutally killed by law enforcement officers in the streets of Alexandria. After Said’s beating, Said’s brother used his cell phone to capture photos of his brother’s grisly corpse and uploaded them to Facebook. The photos were then used to start a protest group called “We Are All Khaled Said,” which now has more than a million members (Pollock 2011). Numerous other videos and images, similarly appalling, were posted on social media sites to build awareness and incite activism among local citizens and the larger global community.
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