[Air-L] CFP Book on Everyday Democracy: Building Resilience Against Polarization and Radicalization

[Pernilla Severson]

Dear AOIR community,

Digital media, internet-connected and automated scholarly work is warmly
invited to this CFP, a shared space where academics and practitioners
explore various aspects of everyday democracy, particularly in the context
of polarization and radicalization.

By examining how everyday democracy interacts with these processes, this
book aims to provide new insights into how democratic resilience can be
built in the face of polarization and radicalization. Through a broad
approach encompassing various societal systems and institutions, the book
explores the complexities and nuances of these challenges, offering a
deeper understanding of everyday democracy and its potential to mitigate
the risks of polarization and radicalization.

Read more below or at
http://lnu.se/en/research/research-projects/project-the-book-everyday-democracy/
.

Interested chapter contributors are welcome to propose chapters that
showcase the wide spectrum of research on polarization and radicalization
in relation to democratic values. Examples of topics chapters can address
in the three respective categories that form the framework of the book,
include but are not limited to the following:

1. Collaborative Forms:

• How participatory governance initiatives, such as citizen assemblies or
deliberative practices, can foster democratic resilience against
polarization and radicalization

• The role of digital platforms and open government practices can play in
promoting dialogue, common understanding and a cohesive society

• Ways in which citizen professionalism and public-work democracy can
foster everyday democratic engagement that counters radical ideologies and
polarization

• How collaborative action research methodologies can facilitate
depolarization and democratic discourse

• Avenues for interdisciplinary approaches (e.g. politics, sociology, and
science) to enhance the effectiveness of everyday democracy in
counteracting radicalization

2. Interaction Cases:

• Cities where shared governance of public spaces foster democratic
engagement and challenge local extremism or exclusion

• Art and cultural institutions, or local libraries, engaging e.g.
marginalized youth in democratic processes

• Schools where democratic practices have been implemented, making use of
e.g. participatory decision-making and curriculum design

• Everyday democratic practices in cities or local communities facing
different types of crises (such as inequality, climate change, or
migration)

• NGOs and community-led fact-checking initiatives aiming to counter
microradicalization

• Lessons learned from the Dialogue to Change Approach (also known as
Dialogue to Action)

• The contribution by makerspaces, graffiti, and other art forms in
contributing to everyday democratic engagement in polarized communities

3 Research-Based Explorations:

• How media and social media shape everyday democratic discourse, both
promoting polarization and offering platforms for counter-radicalization
and democratic engagement

• The democratic potential of local histories and urban movements to
reclaim public spaces for equity and inclusion

• The impact of popular culture—music, films, and literature—on shaping
public perceptions of democracy and radicalization, both positively and
negatively

• The role of speculative thinking and conspiracy theories in fostering or
deepening political polarization

• Commonalities and differences in approaches to de-radicalization across
diverse global contexts

• Feminist perspectives on authoritarian populism as seen through the
boundary work in everyday life

Submission guidelines

If you are interested in contributing to this project, please submit an
extended abstract (max. 500 to 750 words) of your proposed chapter and a
short biographical note (max. 150 words) by 22 November 2024, to
everydaydemocracy at lnu.se. Chapter submissions and further editorial and
peer reviews will be carried out via a publishing platform.

The extended abstract must clearly state the intended analytical goals and
empirical/theoretical coverage of the proposed chapter while clarifying how
the proposed chapter addresses central themes of the edited volume. If
possible, indicate which category your chapter is best suited for, i.e. as
Collaborative Forms and Scholarly Approaches, Interaction Cases or
Research-Based Explorations.

Please include up to five indicative references you plan to use in your
chapter. While these references might change along the way, they are useful
to avoid potential overlaps among contributors.

The targeted academic publisher will be chosen after the selection of
abstracts is finalized. All chapters submitted should be original works and
must not be under consideration by other publishers.



Important dates

Deadline for extended abstracts: 22 November 2024

Notification of accepted chapter proposals: 29 November 2024

Initial chapter draft: 10 January 2025

Editorial review feedback: 17 January 2025

Deadline for full submissions: 20 February 2025

Peer review: March-April 2025

Submission of revised chapters: 16 June 2025

Expected publication year: Winter 2025/Spring 2026



Editors

Pernilla Jonsson Severson, Associate Professor in Media and Communication
Studies, Department of Media and Journalism, Linnaeus University,
Sweden  Contact:
pernilla.severson at lnu.se

Emma Ricknell, Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science, Linnaeus
University, Sweden

Contact: emma.ricknell at lnu.se



Contact information

Please contact Pernilla Jonsson Severson at pernilla.severson at lnu.se if you
have any questions regarding the chapter proposal.
-- 
Pernilla