Two Can Play at That Game: Social Media Opportunities in Azerbaijan for Government and Opposition

The state of Azerbaijan has a unique way of regulat- ing the Internet and social media to maximize its opportunities for simultaneously promoting itself while deterring dissent. Instead of using high-level filtering, it instead uses psychological techniques to create an environment of self-censorship (and increasingly is using policy mech- anisms to enforce the psychological controls.) The government also monitors and punishes social media-enabled dissent. Nonetheless, oppo- sitionally-minded Azerbaijanis use social media as a promotional tool, an information dissemination medium, and for some - though not the tradi- tional opposition parties - an organizational tool.This article will describe how the opposition uses social media for organizing, using the Connective Action framework to understand different opposition uses of social media for action, and explain how the government controls the online space. Analysis of how the two sides use the Internet enhances understanding of how social media can enrich not only our understanding of the Azerbaijani political scene, but also how social media and politics intersect in more contexts, a perspective that is sorely missing from current writing on social media and politics. Social media has enabled both the government and the opposition to engage with each other and Azerbaijani citizens. For the government, social media provides an alternative medium to toy with the opposition and demonstrate its power to the citizenry. The traditional opposition, on the other hand, does not effectively use social media to engage it audience. However, oppositionists not affiliated with traditional parties are leverag- ing social media to build audiences and engage in action.BackgroundAzerbaijan, one of the most of the post-Soviet states accord- ing to Freedom House, typifies the social control that post-Soviet rulers have over their peoples.1 Due in large part to oil revenue, the regime can easily preempt any opposition.2 However, because the regime allows low-challenge opposition candidates to run for office, Azerbaijan is an electoral authoritarian state where elections are held, but always reflect what the regime wants.3 The key elements of Azerbaijani politics are: 1) the personalist-clientelist nature of Aliyev's rule, where patronage-based elite factions demonstrate loyalty and become dependent on resources allocated by the ruling party; 2) deficient stateness and endemic corruption, which dominate all aspect of political life; and 3) a marginalized political opposi- tion, which exists but represents few organized interests.4 Additionally, the citizens of Azerbaijan experience a general sense of apathy and fear5 and a lack of trust in others.6 As such, Azerbaijani society is self-censoring.7The Internet in AzerbaijanIn Azerbaijan, the government has nearly total control of the mainstream media.8 Accordingly, in the last few years, many oppositionally-minded Azerbaijanis have turned to the Internet to express their political views. With the growth of social media, especially Facebook (between 13-18 percent of Azerbaijanis had a Facebook account as of late 20139), this sort of political deliberation has increased. As the openness of the Internet became an attractive space for activists, the Azerbaijani government seemingly took notice and began formulating a policy to control it. Like in the print media sphere, the Azerbaijani government understood that allowing some independence can provide benefits. One argument along these lines is that states make policies and have bureau- crats to implement them. Independent media is one of the only ways that leaders can verify that the bureaucrats are doing their jobs. With the Internet and social media, a little bit of freedom can provide the government with insight into what the opposition elite are thinking, as well as an excellent and systematic monitoring tool. …