You Say You Want a Revolution: the Arab Spring, Norm Diffusion, and the Human Rights Regime

Harrelson-Stephens, Julie; Callaway, Rhonda L.

doi:10.1007/s12142-014-0315-5

Cited by 23 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Norms are understood as values and expectations that actors share with each other. Harrelson-Stephens and Callaway (2014) interpreted Arab Spring protests as the diffusion of human rights norms—and social media as the vehicle through which this diffusion took place. Pompper (2014) used norm diffusion along with gender role incongruity theory to understand the differences between print media, news wires and blogs in the representation of Tunisian women revolutionaries.…”

Section: Theoretical Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Media and Social Mobilisation in the Middle East: A Survey of Research on the Arab Spring

Smidi¹,

Shahin²

2017

India Quarterly

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The role of the media, and especially the social media, in the Arab Spring has been extensively debated in academia. This study presents a survey of studies published in scholarly journals on the subject since 2011. We find that the bulk of the research contends that social media enabled or facilitated the protests by providing voice to people in societies with mostly government-controlled legacy media; helping people connect, mobilise and organise demonstrations; and broadcasting protests to the world at large and gaining global support. Some scholars, however, argue that social media played only a limited or secondary role, which ought to be viewed alongside other social, political, economic and historical factors. We also identify the spatial and temporal focus of the research and preferred theoretical and methodological approaches and draw attention to several blind spots that require further investigation.

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Section: Theoretical Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Media and Social Mobilisation in the Middle East: A Survey of Research on the Arab Spring

Smidi¹,

Shahin²

2017

India Quarterly

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“…Previously termed the ‘contagion’ or ‘demonstration’ effect, Patel et al’s chapter from The Arab Uprisings Explained defines diffusion as ‘the transfer of an innovation – for example, a new product, policy, institution, or repertoire of behavior – across units, such as enterprises, organizations, sociopolitical groups, or governments’ (Patel et al 2014: 58). The December 2010 protests of Tunisia incited similar demonstrations across the Arab world because youth activists across borders were receptive to learning new strategies, eager to emulate the success story of Tunisia and able to coordinate around common symbols and themes (Harrelson-Stephens and Callaway 2014; Saideman 2012; Weyland 2012). Scholars of post-communist politics have noted how this regional ‘cascade’ of opposition mirrored, at least in the early stages, the revolutions of 1989 (Hale 2013).…”

Section: The Spread Of Contention: Escalation and Diffusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Arab Spring: One Region, Several Puzzles, and Many Explanations

Yom¹

2015

Gov. & oppos.

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“…Norm advocates [18,19] disseminate their ideas via different platforms [20][21][22]. For Fink, an important platform is his annual "Dear CEO" letters which he has published since 2012.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does ESG privilege climate action over social and governance issues? A content analysis of BlackRock CEO Larry Fink’s annual letters

Mrchkovska,

Dolšak,

Prakash

2023

PLOS Sustain Transform

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Milton Friedman famously argued that the social responsibility of business is to maximize shareholder wealth. Friedman’s view is challenged by the proponents of corporate social responsibility who suggest that firms should consider the interests of all stakeholders, and not just shareholders. Following the stakeholder approach, BlackRock’s CEO Larry Fink has made the case that firms should use the ESG (environmental, social, and governance) metric to evaluate their performance as opposed to short-term profit maximization. Fink employs his annual “Dear CEO” letters as a platform to outline his views on ESG. While these letters focus on all three ESG dimensions, the media tends to portray Fink as a climate advocate. We examined the texts of the ten letters Fink has published since 2012 to assess the extent to which Fink focused on climate issues. We found that Fink emphasized the climate dimension over social and governance dimensions only in two letters (2020 and 2022), which suggests that the thrust of Fink’s letters differs from how the media frames them. Broadly, our paper suggests that norm advocates sometimes cannot fully control how their advocated norm is interpreted and framed. Limiting ESG to climate issues has implications for its business acceptability. Specifically, this framing links business incentives to adopt ESG to the policy salience of climate issues as well as the fortunes of both the fossil fuel industry and the renewable energy sector. Second, if businesses face a legitimacy crisis from governance shortfalls or inadequate social performance, ESG will serve as a less effective tool in alleviating stakeholder concerns.

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You Say You Want a Revolution: the Arab Spring, Norm Diffusion, and the Human Rights Regime

Cited by 23 publications

References 42 publications

Social Media and Social Mobilisation in the Middle East: A Survey of Research on the Arab Spring

Social Media and Social Mobilisation in the Middle East: A Survey of Research on the Arab Spring

The Arab Spring: One Region, Several Puzzles, and Many Explanations

Does ESG privilege climate action over social and governance issues? A content analysis of BlackRock CEO Larry Fink’s annual letters

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