ABSTRACT
The Arab Spring is considered to be one of the most important democratic movements since the year 2000. Social media have been seen as the main driver of the revolts. The press even talked about Twitter and Facebook revolutions. This chapter contests these assumptions.
It argues that the ‘Spring’ was more a movement for social and economic improvement than for democracy. Moreover, the role of digital technology in the Arab Spring was small. Social media had an important role in mobilizations but not in changing Arab political situations. Instead, the political context of the Islamic or authoritarian Arab political systems and their current political views and norms are highlighted.
The Arab Spring turned into a winter when dictatorship, civil war and at best a kind of authoritarian democracy prevailed.
