"In a country as historically conflict ridden as Myanmar, will the reduced communication costs yielded by the recent expansion of mobile telephony create political affordances that make collective organization for peace or violence more likely to prevail? Applying a random effects model of time-seri ... es cross-sectional data, we test the relationship shared by ethnic groups’increasing access to mobile telephony and their incidence of violent conflict against the state. By comparing differences in the effect across two distinct periods of time—before and after mobile phones became widely available—we can conduct robust tests of this relationship. The results of the analysis offer only marginal support for the prediction that increased access to mobile phones amplified groups’ incidence of violence against the state. More often, the direction of the effect traveled in the opposite direction, suggesting that the spread of mobile phones possibly served as a pacifying force for certain ethnic groups. Conclusions. Within the context of Myanmar, the expansion of mobile telephony has not encouraged greater violence and may instead serve as a pacifying force." (Abstract) more

"In 2006, Chinese officials revealed an extensive plan to increase the nation’s soft power in Africa through a number of initiatives to increase the presence and relevance of Chinese media in Africa. However, the question remains: Has China been successful in enhancing its soft power via its news ... media expansion in the African region? Although it is easy to find sweeping proclamations regarding the popularity of Chinese media throughout Africa, there have been limited efforts to systematically measure the effect of these media on African public opinion toward China. This study seeks to fill this void. Using Pew Global Attitudes Project data, I explore correlations between attitudes toward China and the extent of the Chinese media presence across six African nations in 2013. In addition, to better test for a causal effect of the post-2006 expansion, I employ a second analysis in which I compare these relationships in 2007 with these same relationships in 2013. By comparing changes in these relationships over time, this analysis provides tentative empirical support that the sweeping efforts undertaken to expand the reach and relevance of Chinese media in Africa have moved African public opinion in the desired direction." (Abstract) more

"This analysis contributes to the body of research testing the effect of mobile phone availability on the probability of violent conflict by shifting the unit of analysis to that of distinct ethnic groups. This approach provides two important advantages. First, it tests the robustness of this relati ... onship by determining whether this effect maintains when shifted to a more rigorous and theoretically appropriate level of analysis. Second, shifting the analysis to the group level also enables tests of specific characteristics that may condition the effect of mobile phone availability on violent collective action. The first set of characteristics test whether mobile phone availability primarily increases a group’s opportunities to engage in violent collective action as a result of decreased organizational costs due to diminished communication costs. The second set of characteristics explore whether mobile phone availability makes violent collective action more likely as a result of increasing a group’s motivation to organize, thanks to enabling more efficient communication about shared grievances between group members. The results yield mixed support for both of these potential mechanisms, providing needed insight into the dynamics at play in this relationship – a matter that very much remains in the ‘black box’ at this point in time." (Abstract) more