Date of Award
Summer 8-31-2022
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts (BA)
Advisor(s)
Christopher Toulouse, Ph.D.
Abstract
This thesis looks to compare the ways in which the internet informs and organizes political behavior within China and the United States. Both countries are dissimilar in how they define the domain, purpose, and accessibility of the internet for their citizens. In some respects, when conceptualizing the internet as a geopolitical landscape (a new “region” in which political activity operates) similarities can be drawn from how the nation-state and their citizens utilize it as a tool for realizing political objectives. In both states, internet censorship and narrative construction is a prevailing conflict between the central government and the broader public. More specifically, this thesis will be making a comparative analysis between the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests and the Black Lives Matter protests. Doing this, the intention is to identify the origins of each movement both online and off, its outcomes in real-world mobilization, and lastly, any problems that may arise when moving from the virtual to the physical.
Recommended Citation
Imanaga, Elika, "Internet Usage in Political Activism and its Outcomes: Hong Kong and Black Lives Matter" (2022). Senior Theses. 94.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/international_senior/94
