The Arab Spring’s Crowd Psychology

Frustrated with discredited institutions and paralyzed political parties, citizens across the Arab world have employed social media to mobilize crowds. The nascent democracies of Arab Spring countries now must learn to use the crowds' tools to connect with them – or risk being devoured.

ABU DHABI – In 1896, the social psychologist Gustave Le Bon warned his contemporaries of the dangers of crowds, writing that, “It is necessary to arrive at a solution to the problems offered by [crowds’] psychology, or to resign ourselves to being devoured by them.” As spontaneous protest overtakes organized political movements across the Arab world, the leaders of Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya’s nascent democracies should heed Le Bon’s warning.

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