Authors

Najmin Kamilsoy¹;  ¹ Department of Public and Social Policy, Charles University Prague, Czech Republic

Discussion

Although a large number of studies in the Western contexts have postulated a positive impact of online political activism on offline activism, especially in terms of “reinforcement and mobilization”, this relationship is more complicated in non-Western contexts. Previous research on the case of Azerbaijan has established that the connection between social network use and offline political activism is non-existent, although there are benefits for some forms of civic engagement. In the perception of Azerbaijani activists, online activities help reach like-minded citizens and gain a large public audience. Since the 2013 protests in Baku, whereas the online outreach of political activists has grown significantly, this growth has not been reflected in offline engagement such as association and assembly. This research acknowledges that coercive measures under authoritarianism discourage collective political action; however, it focuses on an under-researched aspect by asking whether social networks also have a detrimental effect as a venue of ‘imaginary collectivity’ and low-cost activism. Does the ‘imaginary collectivity’ that social media creates based on a markedly large audience and (low-cost) engagement provide a perception of complacency in activism, paving the way for the decline of physical political activities? Based on interviews with non-aligned and famous online political activists, this article examines the offline effects of Facebook political activism in Azerbaijan.