Social media, politics and democracy in post-transition Central and Eastern Europe (original) (raw)
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#Democracy: social media use and democratic legitimacy in Central and Eastern Europe
Democratization, 2016
Since 1989, many of the former communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) have made the dramatic change from communist regimes to democratic nations that are integrated in the European sphere. While these sweeping changes have given rise to a successful transition to democracy unlike any the world has ever seen, there remain issues with governance as well as citizen support for the regime. While other studies have shown that mass media can influence a person's attitudes and opinions in the region, none has explored what effect social media can have on orientations toward democracy in the region. In the following paper, I build several hypotheses based on previous studies of media effects and democratic survival. I then employ survey data to empirically test whether social media increases support for democracy. The study finds that not only does using social media increase support for democracy, but also simple usage rather than information seeking provides more consistent effects on a person's support for democracy in CEE.
2013
Moldova's April 2009 mass unrest and the subsequent ouster of Vladimir Voronin's Communist Party have become widely known as the country's "Twitter Revolution," which in turn is often cited as an example of the Internet promoting revolution and democratization in a hybrid regime, a political system combining elements of democracy and authoritarianism. A close analysis of these events, however, shows that social media played a secondary role at best. Instead, Moldova's revolution is best understood as the product of a succession crisis that happened to hit the regime as the country was entering a sharp economic decline linked to the global financial crisis. The findings emphasize the risk of overestimating the Internet's effects on regime change if researchers neglect the hard work of carefully tracing the actual processes by which nondemocratic regimes are ousted.
#Democracy: The Internet And Support For Democracy In Central And Eastern Europe
2014
Since 1989, the countries in Central and Eastern Europe have undergone a tremendous amount of societal and political change. While previous studies have noted the importance of citizen support for democracy in providing a base for regime stability in these new democracies, there is considerable debate in what influences these values. One possible mechanism of attitude change is mass media. Previous studies in political science have noted the importance of mass media in influencing citizen attitudes and behavior. Though this research has uncovered a plethora of effects that the media can have, the extant literature has mostly focused on this relationship in older, established democracies. This study seeks to advance literature on political communication by extending this research to new democracies and new media. Specifically, it explores the effects of the internet on support for democracy in Central and Eastern Europe. The main hypothesis is citizens who use the internet will be more supportive of democratic governance and the norms of a democratic society because the internet offers immediate feedback loops between citizens, media outlets, and politicians, as well as the opportunity to diffuse democratic norms through social interaction online. To test this prediction, the study utilizes data from Eurobarometer and the European Social Survey. The findings show that internet use does increase support for the political regime and democratic norms in the region's democracies, while only increasing support for democratic norms in the non-democracies. Furthermore, the findings show that social interaction online tends to be a driving mechanism in producing support for democracy, while online news increases the chances for citizens to hold political elites accountable by providing an open space for healthy political opposition to iii coalesce. These findings provide evidence that the internet can be a particularly helpful mechanism in supporting democratic consolidation in these new democracies because it provides unique opportunities to influence support for democratic norms and hold elected leaders accountable to the mass public. iv DEDICATION To Summer. Without her endless support and encouragement this work could not have been completed. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express sincere gratitude to my dissertation committee, Professors Alice Cooper, Greg Love, Matthew Loveless, and Carrie Smith, for all their help and guidance throughout the dissertation process. Their vision and tireless efforts have allowed this project to come to fruition. Furthermore, I would like to thank Professors Cooper, Love, and Loveless for all their professional advice and guidance throughout my time as a graduate student. Their advice has been invaluable at every stage of my graduate school education. Finally, I would like to thank my family, especially my grandmother, for inspiring a love of learning and creativity at an early age. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS
A Comparative Cyberconflict Analysis of Digital Activism Across Post-Soviet Countries
Comparative Sociology, 2017
This article analyses digital activism comparatively in relation to three Post-Soviet regions: Russian/anti-Russian in Crimea and online political deliberation in Belarus, in juxtaposition to Estonia’s digital governance approach. The authors show that in civil societies in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, cultural forms of digital activism, such as internet memes, thrive and produce and reproduce effective forms of political deliberation. In contrast to Estonia, in authoritarian regimes actual massive mobilization and protest is forbidden, or is severely punished with activists imprisoned, persecuted or murdered by the state. This is consistent with use of cultural forms of digital activism in countries where protest is illegal and political deliberation is restricted in government-controlled or oligarchic media. Humorous political commentary might be tolerated online to avoid mobilization and decompress dissent and resistance, yet remaining strictly within censorship and surveillance ...
Role of social media in political mobilization in Russia
Conference for E-Democracy and Open Government
In today's world, we are empowered by information and communication technologies. Transparency and access to information, new ways of interacting with government and democratic institutions, and Internet-based, decentralized grassroots activism have caused profound changes to the way states are run and society functions. Social media and new dimensions of social activity, including individualized and collective content generation, collaboration and sharing as well as the emergence of spontaneous multilevel networks change our understanding of how to run countries and companies. Governmental and private internet services have increased the citizens' independence and flexibility; but have allowed for more control. Now is the time to look at the reality of why promising ideas and projects sometimes fail to bear fruits. That technology is only the basis for new forms of organisation and interaction but does not guarantee optimal results is one reason. Others will be squarely in the centre of this conference. CeDEM13 critically analyses present and future developments in e-democracy and open government. We welcome your papers on these connected issues.