Social Media and Peacebuilding

How Digital Spaces Shape Conflict and Peace

This book makes a novel contribution to the literature by examining the intersection of social media, conflict and peacebuilding. It challenges traditional state-centric and Eurocentric approaches to international relations and peace and conflict studies by examining the role of social media in peacebuilding beyond a simplistic tech-solutionist versus tech-skeptical duality. The book explains why the impact of social media on peacebuilding is complex and depends on the political context and strategies of the actors involved in it. It uses an interdisciplinary lens to explore the potential and limitations of social media in peacebuilding, thereby contributing to a theoretical and empirical understanding of the role of digital technology in shaping conflict and promoting peace.

Chapter “Fighting Hate Speech on Social Media: The Challenge of “Deep Work” in Digital Peacebuilding” is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution BY 4.0 International license via link.springer.com.