[Air-L] CFP New W(h)ines in New Bottles? Voicing Protest in the Digital Age, ECPR General Conference Reykjavik 2011

Dan Mercea dan.mercea at york.ac.uk
Wed Jan 19 02:14:22 PST 2011


Dear All,

Please see the call for papers for the above ECPR panel. If of interest, 
make sure you submit your paper proposal by 1 February.

Best regards,

Dan

###

Section ID: *65*
Section Title: *Contentious politics in times of crisis* 
<http://www.ecprnet.eu/conferences/general_conference/Reykjavik/section_details.asp?sectionid=65>

*New W(h)ines in New Bottles? Voicing Protest in the Digital Age*

* Panel Abstract*

This panel is jointly coordinated with the section in "Internet and 
Politics: Bridging Current Research and Outlining Future Directions. 
Civil society is cited as a prerequisite for traditional, stable and 
durable democratic systems. It has gained momentum and influence at 
local, national and global levels, holding governments accountable, 
advocating democratic values as well as implementing programmes and 
policies traditionally located within the realm of government. The 
increasing importance of networked protest and collective action as a 
facet of political contestation is a feature of the modern landscape. 
Such collective action engenders new forms of "networked" action and 
collaboration that both enhance and to some extent shape offline 
contestation. The notion of civil society has been challenged by the 
networking possibilities of ICTs (e.g. transnational neo-fascist 
movements). ICT's can also have a darker side. With the increasing 
impact of ICTs the internal and external structures and functions of 
civil society and its relations vis-à-vis government/state are evolving 
and changing. Cyberactivism, plays a growing role in influencing 
governments. Cyberactivism is often a subject of contestation with 
internet use being cajoled by government for some activities but 
demonised as vaguely threatening and undemocratic in others. Social 
Networking is increasing connectivity not just of social engagements but 
also of political concerns and provides springboards for political 
campaigns/manifestations. The plethora of social network sites with 
their differing formats, contents and memberships provide a major 
challenge to governments' hopes of controlling or spinning their 
activities. The governments´ responses to this re-personalisation of 
collective protest activities range from attempts to contain, restrain 
or even demonise cyberactivism, through to utilising ICTs themselves, in 
order to influence cyber debates. This panel examines differing forms of 
cyberactivism, the rise of globalised virtual netizens as essential 
building blocks of civil society in a digitally enabled world, the 
formation of a globalised virtual civil society and its meaning for 
national governments, the positive/negative impacts of cyberactivism on 
policy-making, and governmental reactions.

	

	

* Panel Chair(s)*

	

	

*Name:* Paul  Nixon  (P.G.Nixon at hhs.nl) - /Panel Chair/
*Institution:* Hague University of Applied Sciences

	

	

*Name:* Rajash  Rawal  (R.Rawal at hhs.nl) - /Panel Co-Chair/
*Institution:* Hague University of Applied Sciences

	

	


-- 

Dan Mercea, PhD
Teachin Fellow
Department of Sociology
University of York
E:dmm505 at york.ac.uk
T: +44(0)1904 433578





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