Political Repression and Its Impact on Activists’ Communication Behavior

This study examines the various forms of repression and their impact on the communication behavior of activists who use social media and interpersonal communication. The research focuses on Iraqi and Lebanese activists who participated in the protests of 2019. The study was conducted over a one-month period from January 10, 2023, to February 12, 2023, through interviews of 19 Iraqi and 19 Lebanese activists to explore different models of repression and the participants’ communicative behavior. The study uses two theories from communications and politics. They are ‘uses and gratifications theory’ to study the communicative behavior of activists and the changes that occurred within it, and the second is ‘Dahl theory’ (2006) for evaluating democratic systems. The findings of the study revealed that the activists’ motives and preferences of communication channels impacted their communication behavior because of repression. The research also identified nine models of political repression that the activists experienced.