Context matters: political polarization on Twitter from a comparative perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 857-879 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Urman
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Comparative Studies ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
The Political ◽  
Electoral Rules ◽  
The Subject

This article explores the issue of political polarization on social media. It shows that the intensity of polarization on Twitter varies greatly from one country to another. The analysis is performed using network-analytic audience duplication approach and is based on the data about the followers of the political parties’ Twitter accounts in 16 democratic countries. Based on the topology of the audience duplication graphs, the political Twitterspheres of the countries are classified as perfectly integrated, integrated, mixed, polarized and perfectly polarized. Explorative analysis shows that polarization is the highest in two-party systems with plurality electoral rules and the lowest in multi-party systems with proportional voting. The findings help explain the discrepancies in the results of previous studies into polarization on social media. The results of the study indicate that extrapolation of the findings from single-case studies on the topic is impossible in most cases, suggesting that more comparative studies on the matter are necessary to better understand the subject and get generalizable results.

Tribunes and Patricians: Fringe Parties in the 21st Century

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harry Nedelcu
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Full Text ◽  
Debt Crisis ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
Radical Right ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Spectrum ◽  
Structural Shifts

The mid and late 2000s witnessed a proliferation of political parties in European party systems. Marxist, Libertarian, Pirate, and Animal parties, as well as radical-right and populist parties, have become part of an increasingly heterogeneous political spectrum generally dominated by the mainstream centre-left and centre-right. The question this article explores is what led to the surge of these parties during the first decade of the 21st century. While it is tempting to look at structural arguments or the recent late-2000s financial crisis to explain this proliferation, the emergence of these parties predates the debt-crisis and can not be described by structural shifts alone . This paper argues that the proliferation of new radical parties came about not only as a result of changes in the political space, but rather due to the very perceived presence and even strengthening of what Katz and Mair (1995) famously dubbed the "cartelization" of mainstream political parties.   Full text available at: https://doi.org/10.22215/rera.v7i1.210

Democracy and Political Culture

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ross McKibbin
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Social System ◽  
Political System ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One ◽  
Definition Of

This book is an examination of Britain as a democratic society; what it means to describe it as such; and how we can attempt such an examination. The book does this via a number of ‘case-studies’ which approach the subject in different ways: J.M. Keynes and his analysis of British social structures; the political career of Harold Nicolson and his understanding of democratic politics; the novels of A.J. Cronin, especially The Citadel, and what they tell us about the definition of democracy in the interwar years. The book also investigates the evolution of the British party political system until the present day and attempts to suggest why it has become so apparently unstable. There are also two chapters on sport as representative of the British social system as a whole as well as the ways in which the British influenced the sporting systems of other countries. The book has a marked comparative theme, including one chapter which compares British and Australian political cultures and which shows British democracy in a somewhat different light from the one usually shone on it. The concluding chapter brings together the overall argument.

Political Knowledge and Misinformation in the Era of Social Media: Evidence From the 2015 UK Election

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Kevin Munger ◽  
Patrick J. Egan ◽  
Jonathan Nagler ◽  
Jonathan Ronen ◽  
Joshua Tucker
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
News Media ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
Political Information ◽  
The Political ◽  
Election Campaign ◽  
Social Media Platform ◽  
Media Platform

Abstract Does social media educate voters, or mislead them? This study measures changes in political knowledge among a panel of voters surveyed during the 2015 UK general election campaign while monitoring the political information to which they were exposed on the Twitter social media platform. The study's panel design permits identification of the effect of information exposure on changes in political knowledge. Twitter use led to higher levels of knowledge about politics and public affairs, as information from news media improved knowledge of politically relevant facts, and messages sent by political parties increased knowledge of party platforms. But in a troubling demonstration of campaigns' ability to manipulate knowledge, messages from the parties also shifted voters' assessments of the economy and immigration in directions favorable to the parties' platforms, leaving some voters with beliefs further from the truth at the end of the campaign than they were at its beginning.

Political Interaction Beyond Party Lines: Communication Ties and Party Polarization in Parliamentary Twitter Networks

2021 ◽  
pp. 089443932098756
Author(s):  
Marc Esteve Del Valle ◽  
Marcel Broersma ◽  
Arnout Ponsioen
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Geographical Area ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
Exponential Random Graph Models ◽  
Party Polarization ◽  
Exponential Random Graph ◽  
Political Networks ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
High Degree

A growing body of research has examined the uptake of social media by politicians, the formation of communication ties in online political networks, and the interplay between social media and political polarization. However, few studies have analyzed how social media are affecting communication in parliamentary networks. This is especially relevant in highly fragmented political systems in which collaboration between political parties is crucial to win support in parliament. Does MPs’ use of social media foster communications among parliamentarians who think differently, or does it result in like-minded clusters polarized along party lines, confining MPs to those who think alike? This study analyzes the formation of communication ties and the degree of homophily in the Dutch MPs’ @mention Twitter network. We employed exponential random graph models on a 1-year sample of all tweets in which Dutch MPs mentioned each other ( N = 7,356) to discover the network parameters (reciprocity, popularity, and brokerage) and individual attributes (seniority, participation in the parliamentary commissions, age, gender, and geographical area) that facilitate communication ties among parliamentarians. Also, we measured party polarization by calculating the external–internal index of the mentions. Dutch MPs’ communication ties arise from network dynamics (reciprocity, brokerage, and popularity) and from MPs’ participation in the parliamentary commissions, age, gender, and geographical area. Furthermore, there is a high degree of cross-party interactions in the Dutch MPs’ mentions Twitter network. Our results refute the existence of “echo chambers” in the Dutch MPs’ mentions Twitter network and support the hypothesis that social media can open up spaces for discussion among political parties. This is particularly important in fragmented consensus democracies where negotiation and coordination between parties to form coalitions is key.

scholarly journals Theoretical Approaches to the Concept of Responsibility of Members of Political Parties and its Correlation with Legal Responsibility

2019 ◽  
pp. 53-62
Author(s):  
V. Е. Mamedova
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Legal Responsibility ◽  
The Political ◽  
Basic Properties ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Legal Responsibilities

The paper proposes the author’s understanding of responsibility of members of political parties provided by the political parties’ constitutions and other intraparty documents (intraparty responsibility). Also, the paper demarcates intraparty responsibility, legal and other types of social responsibility. It is concluded that the responsibility of members of political parties is a subspecies of social and statutory responsibility. The study has determined the tendency of convergence (diffusion) of internal party and legal responsibilities; the analysis has been carried out concerning perspectives of treating the responsibility of members of political parties as positive; the author substantiates the conclusion about the need to study intraparty responsibility exclusively in retrospective aspect. The author elucidates the thesis concerning expediency of enforcement of intra-party penalties as the subject matter of responsibility of members of political parties. Also, the basic properties of intra-party responsibility are revealed and analyzed. The study has investigated the influence of ambivalent nature of political parties and peculiarities of intra-party relations regarding the properties of responsibility of members of political parties.

scholarly journals USE OF CYBER HATE IN THE ELECTORAL CAMPAIGNS BY THE MAINSTREAM POLITICAL PARTIES OF PAKISTAN

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 325-332
Author(s):  
Ayesha Siddiqua
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Hate Speech ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
The Political ◽  
Electoral Campaigns ◽  
General Elections ◽  
Cyber Ethics

Purpose of the study: The purpose of the study is to examine the use of cyber hate by the Pakistan’s mainstream political parties. The issue of poll rigging in Pakistan’s General Elections 2013 is examined through discourse analysis of the related tweets. The study also aims at comprehending the extent to which cyber ethics were violated during the digital electoral campaigns. Methodology: Discourse Analysis of the tweets generated from the official Twitter handles of PTI and PMLN leaders was conducted to examine the use of cyber hate by the Pakistan’s mainstream political parties. Violation of cyber ethics was explored through the qualitative interviews of 8 purposively selected social media managers of PMLN, PPP, and PTI. Main Findings: The findings indicated that party leadership/politicians used the elements of cyber hate which included abusive language, provocation, and character assassination against their opponents during the digital electoral campaign in general and regarding the poll rigging issue of Pakistan’s General Elections 2013 in specific. Resultantly the tweets using strong adjectives and metaphors on the political opponents were more frequently re-tweeted and attracted more favorites. Applications of this study: The study can be helpful in various cross-disciplinary areas that focus on the examination of the usage and impact of social media and cyberspace as a medium for hate speech dissemination. The study can significantly contribute to areas related to cyber ethics, digital electoral campaigning, freedom of expression, and political opinion building. Novelty/Originality of this study: The study’s originality lies in its attempt to unfold the foundations of digital electoral campaigning in Pakistan and how cyberhate was used as a pivotal tool for advancing the political narratives in a fragile democratic society.

Analysis of Social Media in Administration

2012 ◽  
pp. 845-861
Author(s):  
Karoll Haussler Carneiro Ramos ◽  
Joselice Ferreira Lima ◽  
Flávio Elias de Deus ◽  
Luis Fernando Ramos Molinaro
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Psychology ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Organizational Behavior ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Organizational Practices ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Points Of View

This chapter analyzes some case studies about social media in organizations’ administration. To do this, social media’s epistemological base will be introduced, considering contributions from the subject of organizational behavior. The importance of this discipline is that it brings together social sciences points of view (social psychology, sociology and anthropology). After this, views will be presented regarding the mathematical nature of social media. In this part, the internet’s influence on social media will also be discussed, for it has contributed to a new common sense, and it is responsible for social media popularity. Finally, how social media interferes in organizations will be attested to, as well as how it can be managed. In order to help the understanding of such knowledge, a survey will be introduced, with articles related to organizational practices in social media.

Damage Control upon Learning That One’s Study Failed to Replicate

2021 ◽  
pp. 173-190
Author(s):  
R. Barker Bausell
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Damage Control ◽  
Original Study ◽  
Word Priming ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Use Of Social Media

But what happens to investigators whose studies fails to replicate? The answer is complicated by the growing use of social media by scientists and the tenor of the original investigators’ responses to the replicators. Alternative case studies are presented including John Bargh’s vitriolic outburst following a failure of his classic word priming study to replicate, Amy Cuddy’s unfortunate experience with power posing, and Matthew Vees’s low-keyed response in which he declined to aggressively disparage his replicators, complemented the replicators’ interpretation of their replication, and neither defended his original study or even suggested that its findings might be wrong. In addition to such case studies, surveys on the subject suggest that there are normally no long-term deleterious career or reputational effects on investigators for a failure of a study to replicate and that a reasoned (or no) response to a failed replication is the superior professional and affective solution.

Conditions for new parties’ participation in a founding election in a democratic transition

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 434-443
Author(s):  
Myriam Aït-Aoudia
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Electoral Competition ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
The Political ◽  
Democratic Transitions ◽  
New Parties ◽  
First Time

The literature on democratic transitions considers the participation of new parties in the first pluralist election in a post-authoritarian context (founding election) as something to be taken for granted. As such, it is never questioned. Specialists in democratic transitions ignore the research on “new parties,” which is, nonetheless, essential to the understanding of the particular characteristics of a post-authoritarian situation. Using an original qualitative study on Algeria, this article proposes to bring to light the political, organizational, and legal conditions of new political parties’ participation or nonparticipation in a founding election. In particular, this research allows us to grasp the dilemmas and difficulties faced by leaders of new parties and the types of support on which they rely to engage for the first time in an electoral competition. The analytical framework stemming from this “case study” is applicable to other national case studies.

scholarly journals Mummifying the Working Class: The Cultural Revolution and the Fates of the Political Parties of the 20th Century

2016 ◽  
Vol 227 ◽  
pp. 653-673 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Russo
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Working Class ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Cultural Revolution ◽  
Chinese Communist Party ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Cultural Revolution

AbstractA number of prolonged political experiments in Chinese factories during the Cultural Revolution proved that, despite any alleged “historical” connection between the Communist Party and the “working class,” the role of the workers, lacking a deep political reinvention, was framed by a regime of subordination that was ultimately not dissimilar from that under capitalist command. This paper argues that one key point of Deng Xiaoping's reforms derived from taking these experimental results into account accurately but redirecting them towards the opposite aim, an even more stringent disciplining of wage labour. The outcome so far is a governmental discourse which plays an important role in upholding the term “working class” among the emblems of power, while at the same time nailing the workers to an unconditional obedience. The paper discusses the assumption that, while this stratagem is one factor behind the stabilization of the Chinese Communist Party, it has nonetheless affected the decline of the party systems inherited from the 20th century.

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