From the Bottom Up: Re-Founding Political Action in the Networked Age
Policy Paper by Mohamed Masharqa – Progress Center for Policies
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Introduction
In in-depth dialogues with activists from civil and democratic currents across Sudan, Jordan, Palestine, and Syria, the question of founding political parties—or more precisely, identifying appropriate organizational tools for public action—has emerged with increasing urgency. This is particularly true in countries that are experiencing, or have experienced, devastating civil wars, state collapse, or prolonged crises of political representation.
At a deeper level, these conversations reveal that the problem is no longer limited to weak political actors, authoritarian regimes, or adverse regional and international conditions. Rather, it is increasingly tied to a crisis of the organizational model itself—the very framework through which many still attempt to understand and practice politics, despite the fact that the social, technological, and communicative conditions that produced it no longer exist in the same form as they did in the twentieth century.
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Beyond Twentieth-Century Models
A close examination of emerging political experiences—deeply embedded in the digital age—suggests the need to move beyond traditional modes of political organization. It is no longer viable to approach political action in the Arab world through frameworks built on hierarchical, closed organizations that monopolize representation and direct change from the top down.
Structural transformations in communication systems, information flows, and patterns of social organization have eroded the foundations of these models, pushing toward more flexible, distributed, and socially embedded forms of political engagement.
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The Network Society as Analytical Framework
In this context, the concept of the “network society,” as developed by Manuel Castells and critically examined by Darin Barney, provides a central framework for understanding this transformation.
Contemporary society is no longer primarily structured around rigid hierarchies, but around dynamic networks composed of interconnected nodes. Power is determined by the ability to expand within these networks, control information flows, manage relationships, and reshape connections.
Authority, therefore, is no longer monopolized by formal institutions or cohesive party structures. Instead, it is distributed across multiple, overlapping, and constantly evolving spaces.
However, this shift does not eliminate power or domination. Rather, it reconfigures them in more complex and less visible forms. As Barney notes, networks can reproduce inequalities by concentrating influence among actors who control communication infrastructure, platforms, or key resources.
This perspective intersects with Clay Shirky’s argument on the declining cost of organization (Here Comes Everybody) and Bennett and Segerberg’s concept of “connective action,” where political participation shifts from centralized mobilization to networked, individualized engagement.
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Why the Arab Political Field Lags Behind
If this transformation is global, the key question in the Arab context is not simply how politics has changed, but why political elites have been slow to recognize or adapt to these changes.
Here, broader theoretical perspectives become essential.
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Revisiting Political Theory
Gramsci and the Misreading of Hegemony
Antonio Gramsci reminds us that political power is not based solely on coercion or control of state institutions, but on intellectual and moral leadership within society.
However, many Arab readings of Gramsci—especially within leftist and nationalist traditions—have reduced his concept to a justification for the “vanguard intellectual,” positioned above society as its guide. This interpretation overlooks a key dimension of his thought: that hegemony is produced through long-term engagement within civil society, not through top-down direction.
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Arendt and Politics as Public Action
Hannah Arendt offers another critical perspective by distinguishing between power and violence, and by framing politics as collective action within a shared public space.
In this sense, politics is not merely a struggle for control of the state, but the creation of a public sphere where individuals act, speak, and organize together. This insight is particularly relevant in the Arab context, where many movements have focused on seizing power rather than building pluralistic public spaces.
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Azmi Bishara and the Crisis of the Arab Public Sphere
Azmi Bishara deepens this analysis by highlighting the Arab world’s difficulty in producing modern political life. The public sphere is often either subsumed by authoritarian states, fragmented by pre-political loyalties, or dominated by ideologies claiming exclusive truth.
Thus, the crisis of organization is not merely technical—it reflects an incomplete transition from communal structures to citizenship-based political life.
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Al-Jabri and Al-Aroui: Structural Limits
This issue also resonates with:
• Mohammad Abed al-Jabri, who analyzed the dominance of rhetoric, doctrine, and patronage over institutional logic
• Abdallah Laroui, who warned against adopting modern concepts without their underlying social conditions
As a result, many Arab political parties appear modern in form but remain traditional in structure—closer to closed circles than to genuinely representative institutions.
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From Leadership to Networks
The central political question thus shifts from:
Who leads?
to:
How are networks built, expanded, and sustained?
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The Crisis of Vanguard Politics
The Arab political experience has long been shaped by the model of the “top-down intellectual leader,” particularly within ideological parties. This model separates politics from society, transforming it into an elite activity based on tutelage rather than participation.
In practice, this has often led to fragile organizations, disconnected from society, and prone to fragmentation under pressure.
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Lessons from International Experiences
Zohran Mamdani (New York)
Demonstrates how political strength can grow from small grassroots networks through sustained local engagement and community trust-building.
Peter Magyar (Hungary)
Illustrates how digital networks can disrupt traditional political monopolies when combined with social mobilization.
The key lesson:
Digital tools do not replace fieldwork—they amplify it.
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Competing with Power Structures
In the Arab context, political power remains concentrated in two forms:
1. Political money – capable of shaping elections and loyalties
2. Closed ideological organizations – with strong grassroots infrastructure
These cannot be challenged through rhetoric or short-term mobilization, but only through:
• Long-term social legitimacy
• Dense networks of trust
• Open, inclusive organizational structures
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Toward a New Model of Political Action
Politics must be re-grounded in its social infrastructure:
• neighborhoods
• unions
• volunteer groups
• local initiatives
These seemingly small forms, when interconnected, constitute real political power.
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Conclusion
Rebuilding Arab political action requires:
• moving from central leadership to networked structures
• from elite-driven models to society-based participation
• from event-driven politics to long-term accumulation
This is not merely a technical shift—it is a transformation in the very philosophy of politics.
The key question for the future is no longer:
Which party will lead?
But rather:
Which open, patient, and socially rooted network can generate a new form of political power—more resilient than money, more inclusive than ideological structures, and more representative than traditional elites?
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References
• Antonio Gramsci – Prison Notebooks
• Hannah Arendt – On Violence (1970)
• Azmi Bishara – The Arab Question / Religion and Secularism
• Mohammad Abed al-Jabri – The Arab Political Mind
• Abdallah Laroui – Contemporary Arab Ideology
• Manuel Castells – The Rise of the Network Society (1996)
• Darin Barney – The Network Society (2004)
• Clay Shirky – Here Comes Everybody (2008)
• Bennett & Segerberg – The Logic of Connective Action (2013)
