Communication, Revolutions and Conflict Resolution - ICTs as Instruments of the Democratization Process

Abstract

This thesis is presented as a preliminary and explorative endeavor about the role Information and Communication Technologies have, or may have, in the field of Conflict Prevention and Conflict Resolution. Even if this field hasn‘t been strengthened by years of academic research, its relevance is increasingly emerging in relation to social and political contexts where processes – more or less conflictual – are characterizing new forms of civic and political participation, encouraging democratization movements in public life. Relying on a selected body of literature on the topic, this thesis work begins by a socio-political perspective on the impact of ICTs as new forms of information, communication and participation. It then develops an analysis concerning different uses of these technologies by social actors holding different levels of power, and finishes with the focus on the potentialities ICTs have in relation to the Conflict Resolution field.