Social Media and Conflict Management in Post-Conflict and Fragile Contexts

"The evidence base for this area is weak despite much enthusiasm over the potential impact social media could have."

This rapid review identifies recent literature on the role of social media plays in conflict management in post-conflict and fragile contexts. Conflict management refers to: policies relating to national reconciliation; peace-building; stronger state-citizen relations; and social cohesion and inclusion. In most of the literature reviewed in this report (in the form of an annotated bibliography), social media was grouped in with new media and information communication technologies (ICTs).

In terms of conflict management, the available literature indicates that, in some cases, social media and other new media tools have been used to help hold governments accountable, bring citizens together to protest violence, coordinate relief efforts, empower citizens, provide information to reduce tensions, and build bridges of understanding across boundaries. For example, some of the literature examined indicates that social media contributes to social change, as a networked population means greater access to information, more opportunities to engage in public speech, and an improved ability to undertake collective action. Traditional media is more of a one-way communication, while social media and mobile technologies are two-way in nature and more free from state control. They can reach large numbers of people very quickly and allow marginalised individuals and communities to project political ideas in ways that were previously impossible. However, there is little supporting evidence found for these arguments and not much analysis of the impact of the use of social media. Also, in other cases, social media and other new media tools have been used to polarise society, thwart peace movements, promote violent agendas, and convey inaccurate information.

A review of the literature on national reconciliation reveals, for example, that the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)'s website has helped facilitate post-conflict reconciliation and healing through its participatory design process, emphasis on the process of the TRC's work, and use of multimedia. However, it was designed mostly to reach the diaspora, as much of Liberia does not have internet access. One case study summarised here describes a system used to reach Liberians in their own country. Called MOSES, for Mobile Story Exchange System, it consists of an interactive computer kiosk which allows users to browse through videos recorded by other Liberians and to record videos of their own. (This is deemed "rich digital media"). The system serves areas with no communications infrastructure and caters to people who have never used a computer before, are print illiterate, and do not generally have opportunities to engage in national dialogue.

Although empirical evidence is thin ("Communication for Peacebuilding" (C4P) is a relatively new field), there is positive anecdotal evidence that social media can contribute to peacebuilding by improving knowledge for conflict prevention and increasing contact and understanding between opposing groups. As an example of the latter, there are Facebook campaigns such as the one started by an Israeli couple which provided template posters with the text "Iranians, we will never bomb your country. We [heart symbol] You" in order to combat what they felt was fear mongering within their own society. Social media has been used to crowdsource information in conflict hotspots as part of various conflict prevention measures in countries like Kenya and Nigeria, especially around elections. The blog Groundviews supports dialogue about media freedom and issues related to the conflict transformation process in Sri Lanka. Social media enables people to engage in their own initiatives for peace and allows for interactive dialogue. Blogs like iRevolution and Diary of a Crisis Mapper are collectives that highlight ongoing initiatives in peacebuilding and communications. Platforms like Ushahidi also have corresponding blogs where individuals can learn of ongoing initiatives and be inspired by other ideas. With regard to using new media for the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of peacebulding projects, the benefits are that: it can enable decisions based on evidence to be made more quickly, and it saves money, improves data accuracy, reaches more beneficiaries, and allows for geo-referencing. A number of challenges to using new media for M&E also exist. As some of the literature shows, social media can be used to create divides between people, thwarting peace movements, promoting violent agendas, conveying inaccurate information, and perhaps providing totalitarians with a tool for controlling their citizens. New technology also enhances the efficiency of witch hunts, hate speech, and incitement. There are also risks as a result of new technology that information can be assembled and used by repressive actors to track opponents.

Social media can also be used to build stronger state-citizen relations. It has opened up new opportunities for public engagement and interactive dialogue and changed the relationship between states and citizens. Social media and the sharing of videos relating to things like regime violence and electoral fraud have contributed to transparency and accountability and appear to contribute to new norms against such behaviour. Yet social media is not used by the vast majority of average Nigerians or Liberians, which makes making general statements about social media's impact on West African elections difficult. Furthermore, some literature finds that the effects of sharing such videos are not obvious: Condemnation has not stopped the killing in Syria, expectations of intervention may actually encourage protestors to turn to violence, and double standards or failure to enforce sanctions could undermine the emergent norm. Egypt and Tunisia have been used as examples of how the successful use of ICTs seems to be correlated with nonviolent revolutions in particular. However, this does not hold up in the cases of Bahrain, Yemen, Syria, or Libya.

A review of the literature also shows that, with regard to social cohesion and inclusion, social media could offer a platform for people to confront each other and conduct rational discussions to form common understandings, even across socio-economic, religious, and ethnic divisions.

Looking at the relationship between ICTs and post-conflict reconstruction, one report summarised here draws on case studies from Afghanistan, Liberia, Timor-Leste, Rwanda, and Tunisia to understand how ICTs can be used by governments and donors to support the transition from violence to stability. However, it is suggested by this report that it is important in the post-conflict context not to neglect traditional media, which remains an important source of information for many.

The report concludes with links to key websites on peace and ICTs.