Digital technologies for democratic governance in Latin America: opportunities and risks

1. Digital trends in Latin American politics (1990-2012) / Anita Breuer and Yanina Welp -- 2. A Latin spring? Examining digital diffusion and youth bulges in forecasting political change in Latin America / Jacob Groshek and Ingrid Bachmann -- 3. A digital sublime or divide? The impact of information communication technology on the poor in Latin America / Jack Barry -- 4. Designing open data policies in Latin America / Silvana Fumega and Fabrizio Scrollini -- 5. Some notes on the experiences with the use of technology and electronic voting in Latin America / Jose Thompson -- 6. South American politics in the information age : a study of political parties and MPs on the Net in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay / Yanina Welp and Alejandra Marzuca -- 7. Crafting a new parliamentary dialogue sphere? The web and political communication in the current Venezuelan National Assembly / Xavier Rodriguez Franco -- 8. Social movements, democratic participation and ICTs / Sally Burch and Osvaldo Leon -- 9. Social change and social media : incorporating social networking sites into activism in Latin America / Summer Harlow -- 10. Slacktivism or efficiency-increased activism? Online political participation and the Brazilian Ficha Limpa anti-corruption campaign / Anita Breuer and Jacob Groshek -- 11. Social media and diaspora activism : participating in the Argentine Elections 2011 from abroad / Denise Senmartin -- 12. Claiming citizenship : web-based voice and digital media in socialist Cuba / Bert Hoffmann -- 13. Re-assessing ICT for democratic governance in Latin America / Yanina Welp and Anita Breuer.

This book is the first to comprehensively analyse the political and societal impacts of new Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in a region of the Global South. It evaluates under what conditions some Latin American governments and people have succeeded in taking up the opportunities related to the spread of ICTs, while others are confronted with the pessimist scenario of increased, digitally induced social and democratic cleavages.Specifically, the book examines if and how far the spread and use of new ICT affected central aims of democratic governance such as reducing socio-econ

"This book is the first to comprehensively analyse the political and societal impacts of new Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in a region of the Global South. It evaluates under what conditions some Latin American governments and people have succeeded in taking up the opportunities related to the spread of ICTs, while others are confronted with the pessimist scenario of increased, digitally induced social and democratic cleavages.Specifically, the book examines if and how far the spread and use of new ICT affected central aims of democratic governance such as reducing socio-economic and gender inequality; strengthening citizen participation in political decision making; increasing the transparency of legislative processes; improving administrative processes; providing free access to government data and information; and expanding independent spaces of citizen communication. The country case and cross-country explore a range of bottom-up driven initiatives to reinforce democracy in the region.The book offers researchers and students an interdisciplinary approach to these issues by linking it to established theories of media and politics, political communication, political participation, and governance. Giving voice to researchers native to the region and with direct experience of the region, it uniquely brings together contributions from political scientists, researchers in communication studies and area studies specialists who have a solid record in political activism and international development co-operation"--