In the beginning of year 2011, a handful of youth created a Web portal that allows providing latest information on the unrest in the Middle East. It’s not only the government into politics but also the citizen mainly the youth. Officers too shared experiences and lessons learned during the unrest in the Middle East.
Fundamental reforms will be required for conducting national security in a world driven by global listening. Middle East cannot fully adopt and exploit social networking systems without profoundly changing the process of governance. Advocating such change, however, is premature. First, the government must understand and develop the means to interact in the new world in which it lives.
A social network is a complex system. When systems become complex, their behavior cannot be easily predicted by traditional methods of analysis–breaking a system down into its component parts and analyzing the elements in detail. Social networking is more than simply the sum of the attitudes or activities of its members. The system’s complexity creates outcomes that are different than the sum of the group.
That is because they are usually “nonlinear,” often described as “disorganized” systems. Unlike hierarchical organizations, the outputs of a social network are less predictable and controllable. They are subjected to fewer rules and controls. Furthermore, outcomes can be dramatically different from those that might emerge from a more rigid system, such as a government bureaucracy.
Social networking has already profoundly redefined business practices–think eBay and Craigslist. During the 2008 presidential election, the Obama campaign mobilized social networking in revolutionary ways to garner popular support and raise money. The impact of social networking will not end with business and politics. National security is next.
Governments that harness its potential power can interact better with citizens and anticipate emerging issues. Social networking has the potential to affect every aspect of national security including gathering and vetting intelligence and information; gauging and influencing public opinion; distributing “risk communications” (such as how to respond to a pandemic threat); conducting research and analysis; developing policies; planning and implementing programs and field activities; and conducting information operations.
Middle East’s approach to adapting Web 2.0 to national security has not been coherent, comprehensive, or integrated. While certain government organizations have recognized and adopted some tools, such as eGovernment portal etc., others have been more cautious. Some agencies ban on-the-job use of Facebook and other social networking tools.
The administration should restructure the government’s means for conducting strategic communications; create human capital programs to prepare national security professionals and decision makers with new skills, knowledge, and attributes; and direct national security agencies to establish research and development programs focused on threats and competitive advantages of social networking tools.
These measures are a prerequisite for adapting the practices of national security to future challenges.
The detailed list of government obstacles to the effective adoption of social networking technologies include:
Institutional barriers, such as cultural issues and lack of a strategy for using new tools; lack of access to online tools; security and privacy concerns; resources and budget limitations; and legal concerns and terms-of-service restrictions.
These impediments make it difficult for traditional government bureaucracies to adopt social networking practices. While the Web Managers Council offers some potential solutions to overcome these obstacles, such initiatives have not been uniformly applied. Nor is it clear that all the major impediments can be overcome even with more significant changes in government programs and policies.
Thus, in terms of using social networking to improve national security policy and programs, Government 2.0 needs to do more than simply “tweeting” (the action of sending a message using Twitter) in broadcast mode or trying to solicit millions of opinions. Social networking structures need to be designed and implemented to achieve specific measurable outcomes based on knowledge about how networks actually work.
It’s still very early in the dawn of the digital age in the Arab world. Just as Arab satellite channels helped revolutionize broadcast news, social media is arguably changing the nature of news and community engagement, which continues to evolve with increased convergence of social media and satellite broadcast. To be sure, blogging and social networking alone cannot be expected to bring about immediate political change. It’s the long-term impact, the development of new political and civil society engagement, and individual and institutional competencies on which analysts are focusing.
Social networking has changed expectations of freedom of expression and association to the degree that individual and collective capacities to communicate, mobilize, and gain technical knowledge are expected to lead to even greater voice, political influence, and participation over the next 10 to 20 years.