Towards a renaissance in communication for social change redefining the discipline and practice in the Post ‘Arab Spring’ Era1

Worldwide, we have experienced a resurgence in practices of bottom-up communication for social change, a plethora of agency in which voice, citizenship and collective action have centre stage as core values, principles and practices. This resurgence sparks a series of questions; How are these new calls for social change and their principles and communicative practices influencing and informing the thinking and practice of institutionalized communication for development and social change? And what are the underlying conceptual differences in the notions of action, participation and social change which inform the new generation of social movements, on one side, and the established field of communication for social change, on the other? These are the questions that drive this chapter.