Volume 15, Issue 4 (Quarterly Journal of Political Research in the Islamic World, Winter 2026 2025)
پژوهشهاي سياسي جهان اسلام 2025, 15(4): 123-148 |
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Eslami R, Salehi B. Transformation of New Media and the Public Sphere in Afghanistan: An Analysis Based on Habermas’s Theory in the Post-Taliban Context. پژوهشهاي سياسي جهان اسلام 2025; 15 (4) :123-148
URL: http://priw.ir/article-1-1984-en.html
URL: http://priw.ir/article-1-1984-en.html
1- Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Law and Political Science, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran. , eslami.r@um.ac.ir
2- Ph.D Candidate, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Law and Political Science, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran.
2- Ph.D Candidate, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Law and Political Science, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran.
Abstract: (29 Views)
Drawing upon Jürgen Habermas’s theory of the public sphere, this study examines the impact of media transformations in Afghanistan after 2001 on the formation or weakening of the public sphere as a space for rational dialogue and civic participation. The central research question is how new media, particularly digital platforms and social media networks, have contributed to the creation or limitation of the public sphere in the country. The main hypothesis of the study is that the emergence of digital media has relatively strengthened the public sphere; however, challenges such as ethnic polarization, censorship, security threats, and restrictions on freedom of expression have prevented its full realization.
Using a qualitative approach, the findings demonstrate that during the republican period (2001–2021), new media-especially social networking platforms such as Facebook and Twitter (X)-created informal spaces for raising public issues, facilitating intercultural dialogue, and criticizing political power. These media also enhanced the civic participation of marginalized groups, including women and youth. Nevertheless, following the return of the Taliban in August 2021, the imposition of extensive censorship, restrictions on internet access, and violence against journalists - with more than 200 reported violations of media freedom by 2024-have severely undermined these spaces.
The findings further indicate that the public sphere in Afghanistan has largely emerged within informal digital environments, while formal institutions, due to structural weakness and political pressures, have failed to perform a comparable role. The study emphasizes the necessity of promoting media literacy, supporting independent journalism, and creating a secure environment for civil and media activists in order to realize the potential of new media for reconstructing the public sphere under Afghanistan’s challenging conditions.
Using a qualitative approach, the findings demonstrate that during the republican period (2001–2021), new media-especially social networking platforms such as Facebook and Twitter (X)-created informal spaces for raising public issues, facilitating intercultural dialogue, and criticizing political power. These media also enhanced the civic participation of marginalized groups, including women and youth. Nevertheless, following the return of the Taliban in August 2021, the imposition of extensive censorship, restrictions on internet access, and violence against journalists - with more than 200 reported violations of media freedom by 2024-have severely undermined these spaces.
The findings further indicate that the public sphere in Afghanistan has largely emerged within informal digital environments, while formal institutions, due to structural weakness and political pressures, have failed to perform a comparable role. The study emphasizes the necessity of promoting media literacy, supporting independent journalism, and creating a secure environment for civil and media activists in order to realize the potential of new media for reconstructing the public sphere under Afghanistan’s challenging conditions.
Type of Study: Research |
Subject:
Special
Received: 2025/07/28 | Accepted: 2026/05/8 | Published: 2026/05/8
Received: 2025/07/28 | Accepted: 2026/05/8 | Published: 2026/05/8
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