Chapter 6: A Comparative Cyberconflict Analysis of Digital Activism across Post-Soviet Countries

Scholarship on issues surrounding digital activism is booming. Over the past 20 years there has been extensive work on surveillance and censorship issues (Bauman & Lyon, 2013; Fuchs, Boersma, Albrechtslund, & Sandoval, 2012; Morozov, 2011); the impact of ICTs on the ideology, organization, mobilization and structures of new sociopolitical formations (McCaughey & Ayers, 2003; Van de Donk, Loader, Nixon, & Rucht, 2004); the role of digital networked everyday media in supporting social movements and protest groups around the globe (Castells, 2012; Dahlberg & Siapera, 2007; Karatzogianni, 2006); and the influence of non-state actors in deliberating in the digital public sphere the ethics and rights in all levels of governance, connecting with important issues such as migration, the environment, the rights of cultural and other minorities (Gerbaudo, 2016; Karatzogianni et al., 2013; Zuckerman, 2013).