Suchergebnisse

In questo lavoro ho cercato di mettere in relazione due importanti pensatori politici, appartenenti a due epoche diverse: Montesquieu e Hannah Arendt. Il mio obiettivo principale è stato quello di ritrovare nel pensiero della Arendt le influenze del pensatore francese e di sottolineare gli elementi di novità e discontinuità che sono emersi nell'analisi delle due forme politiche su cui hanno riflettuto maggiormente i due autori, ovvero il regime dispotico per quanto riguarda Montesquieu e il regime totalitario nel caso della Arendt.

In this article, we conceive of digital media as embedded within social networks, and use this perspective to examine the role of online communications in collective action. We claim that the adoption of this perspective requires two shifts: first, rethinking the ontological separation between media and social networks of action that has, so far, characterized research in this domain; second, the adoption of flexible tools that enable us to account, simultaneously, for the multiplicity of relations underpinning collective efforts and the hybrid interplay between direct and technology-mediated interactions. After discussing the necessity and the implications of considering communication technologies as endogenous to social networks of collective action, we introduce multidimensional networks (MDNs) as a suitable perspective to advance the application of a relational approach to the study of collective action, thus meeting the challenges posed by the diffusion of interactive and networking digital media.

In this article, we conceive of digital media as embedded within social networks, and use this perspective to examine the role of online communications in collective action. We claim that the adoption of this perspective requires two shifts: first, rethinking the ontological separation between media and social networks of action that has, so far, characterized research in this domain; second, the adoption of flexible tools that enable us to account, simultaneously, for the multiplicity of relations underpinning collective efforts and the hybrid interplay between direct and technology-mediated interactions. After discussing the necessity and the implications of considering communication technologies as endogenous to social networks of collective action, we introduce multidimensional networks (MDNs) as a suitable perspective to advance the application of a relational approach to the study of collective action, thus meeting the challenges posed by the diffusion of interactive and networking digital media. Adapted from the source document.

This article proposes a joint application of online network analysis and NLP techniques to explore dynamics of "polarized intersectionality"—that is, how (mis)representations of women that develop online and at the intersection of different axes of discrimination entwine with ideological and affective polarization. We look in particular at whether and how digital (mis)representations change together with political scenarios in which political parties, leaders, and partisan communities more in general swing from collaboration to hostility. Our analysis of two Twitter conversations that put women at the center of attention show that changing political scenarios generate different digital conversations which, in turn, reflect patterns of alliances and rivalry. Regardless of these changes, women are invariantly (mis)represented in narratives that are often weaponized against political enemies in ways that foster both ideological and affective political polarization.

In this article we explore the discursive mobilization of movement frames within networked publics—a form of unorganized digital activism through which movement organizations, activists, and citizens politicize ordinary conversations by engaging in adversarial meaning-making dynamics online. Leaning on large-scale semantic network analysis and content analysis, we investigate the mobilization of the frame of antifascism within the conversation that sparked on Twitter after the brutal shooting of a group of African citizens by an Italian neo-fascist militant in 2018. We pay particular attention to how the discursive mobilization of the frame of antifascism occurs immediately after the shooting and how it evolves particularly in connection with offline protests. Our results shed light on the fluid nature of discursive mobilization patterns which underpin both the identification with the antifascist tradition and attempts to delegitimize this instance of collective action.

AbstractThis paper seeks to achieve a better understanding of how and under what conditions current digital communication technologies can become an asset to the design of effective policies. In order to do so, we bridge two strands of reflection that have hitherto developed quite independently – i.e. policy design studies and researches on the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to reform the public sector. We start from the assumption that different governmental political and technical capacities shape different spaces for action and thus different types of policy design in which policy-makers can involve citizens via ICTs in three modes: co-design; design fine-tuning; crowdsourced policy design. According to this framework, we analyse three different 'revelatory case studies' in which ICTs have been employed by governments while designing policies: Iceland's recent experiment to redraft collectively its constitution; La Buona Scuola, the latest Italian public education law; and the Finnish Avoin Misteriö, a platform for crowdsourced legislation. By exploring the different modes in which ICTs have been integrated in the formulation of these three policies, we show that it is possible to disentangle different and more or less effective ways of exploiting ICTs' networking and communicative potential for designing successful public policies.

This editorial defines big data as an inherently political object and then briefly discusses its ontological, epistemological, and methodological implications in the social sciences. Furthermore, it addresses these issues in connections with the realm of politics, political participation and political mobilization. Finally, it addresses three main emergent themes related to big data in the broad realm of politics. First, big data as a methodological conundrum - something that can possibly empower or completely bias research activities and results. Second, big data as an object of study in its own right, a contested research and political terrain characterized by strong power dynamics between private and public actors and entwining with governance processes at all levels - from the national to the transnational one. Third, big data as research catalyser that can leverage our understanding of participation and contentious dynamics.

AbstractIn this article, we address transformations in global governance brought about by information and communication technologies (ICTs). Focusing on the specific domain of 'gender‐oriented communication governance ', we investigate online interactions among different kinds of actors active in promoting gender equity in and through the media. By tracing and analysing online issue networks, we investigate which actors are capable of influencing the framing of issues and of structuring discursive practices. From the analysis, different forms of power emerge, reflecting diverse modes of engaging in online interactions, where actors can operate as network 'programmers', 'mobilizers', or 'switchers'. Our case study suggests that, often, old ways of conceiving actors' interactions accompany the implementation of new communication tools, while the availability of a pervasive networked infrastructure does not automatically translate into meaningful interactions among all relevant actors in a specific domain.

Guest editing a special issue on networks and collective action could be interpreted as a response to the ubiquitous use of these terms in both public and academic discourses. As others have noted, thinking that 'networks are everywhere' has become a daily routine (Brandes, Robins, McCranie, and Wasserman 2013: 2). Underpinning such a motto is the diffusion of new information and communication technologies (ICTs), the Internet and social media in particular. ICTs have become a primary global infrastructure for the construction of relations across individuals, organizations, institutions, contents, and information in all domains. Adapted from the source document.

Part 2: Section 1: National and International Policies ; International audience ; This paper looks at the challenges posed by ICT critical infrastructures in their interaction with governance processes. The authors argue that, in order to develop better understanding of how (global) governing arrangements are made in a highly mediatised environment, adequate frameworks should be elaborated to study the interrelation between institutional and technological infrastructures. In this context, institutions are conceived as collections of norms - including a mix of rules and practices - while technological infrastructures are seen as instruments that transform governance processes, also enabling different actors' participation. Adopting a constructivist approach, combined with a focus on governance networks, the authors introduce a multi-dimensional analytical framework to investigate governance processes where institutions and technologies converge to create socio-technical systems.