Abstract:

As recently as almost 10 years ago, new information technology, especially the internet, was almost invisible in the Arab world. Today, with spending on this technology in the Middle East running at twice the world average, in spite of the E-economy crisis and with an obviously increasing awareness by more than one Arab State of the economic and strategic potential involved, there are many reasons to think that the internet is about to reach the lay-man in the Arab world. Coming after the rapid spread of satellite television since the 1990s and other 'mid-technology' new media well before, such abreak with ordinary patterns of mass-communication in the Arab world could lead to a definitive information revolution. Unquestionably, however, the social and political consequences, especially among the public, remain largely unpredictable.


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