Networking the political: On the dynamic interrelations that create publics in the digital age

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 124-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mette Marie Roslyng ◽  
Bolette B Blaagaard
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Digital Age ◽  
The Political ◽  
Relational View ◽  
Minority Culture ◽  
Mobile Media ◽  
Public Spheres ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Definition Of

This article argues that the definition of the political and its role in on- and offline public spheres calls for a conceptualization that takes into account the networked connections established between lay and professional political actors, mass media and mobile media. While acknowledging the importance of popular and mass media’s impact on participatory and democratic processes, this article focuses on the cultural citizen and proposes that a rethinking of publics affords a new understanding of the idea of networks as a series of connection points fostering a dynamic and relational view on the political. We illustrate this conceptualization through a case study mapping the agonistic and antagonistic frontiers in communication in a variety of publics and counter-publics in the context of Danish minority culture and politics.

scholarly journals The political economy of peacebuilding: The case of women's cooperatives in Nepal

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Smita Ramnarain
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Everyday Activities ◽  
Peace Processes ◽  
Sustainable Peace ◽  
Credit Cooperatives ◽  
Peace Initiatives ◽  
Definition Of

Critiques of liberal, top-down approaches to peacebuilding have motivated a discussion of alternative, locally-led, and community-based approaches to achieving and maintaining sustainable peace. This article uses a case study of women's savings and credit cooperatives in post-violence Nepal to examine the ways in which grassroots-based, locally-led peace initiatives can counter top-down approaches. The article presents ethnographic evidence from fieldwork in Nepal on how cooperatives expand through their everyday activities the definition of peace to include not only the absence of violence (negative peace) but transformatory goals such as social justice (positive peace). By focusing on ongoing root causes of structural violence, cooperatives problematize the postconflict period where pre-war normalcy is presumed to have returned. They emphasize local agency and ownership over formal peace processes. The findings suggest ongoing struggles that cooperatives face due to their existence within larger, liberal paradigms of international postconflict aid and reconstruction assistance. Their uneasy relationship with liberal economic structures limit their scale and scope of effectiveness even as they provide local alternatives for peacebuilding.

The discoursal construction of candidates in the tenth Iranian presidential elections

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 537-557 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali R. Abasi ◽  
Nahal Akbari
Keyword(s):  
Presidential Elections ◽  
Qualitative Case Study ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Appraisal Theory ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Linguistic Resources ◽  
News Discourse ◽  
Sociopolitical Context

This qualitative case study investigates dissent in the news discourse of a major pro-reform newspaper covering the Iranian presidential election debates that took place in June 2009. Drawing on appraisal theory as its analytical lens, the article examines the evaluation of the three major candidates in the paper’s coverage of the debates. The article begins with the broader sociopolitical context situating the watershed debates and a description of the legal framework within which the Iranian press operate. The analysis next details the function of attitudinal resources in the discursive representation of the political actors. As central to an ideologically invested strategy, evaluative linguistic resources are found to sharply dichotomize the political actors along a range of positive and negative value positions that dissent from those advanced in the narratives of the dominant power.

Political Agenda Setting and the Mass Media

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefaan Walgrave ◽  
Peter Van Aelst
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Agenda Setting ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Mass Media ◽  
The Individual

Recently, the number of studies examining whether media coverage has an effect on the political agenda has been growing strongly. Most studies found that preceding media coverage does exert an effect on the subsequent attention for issues by political actors. These effects are contingent, though, they depend on the type of issue and the type of political actor one is dealing with. Most extant work has drawn on aggregate time-series designs, and the field is as good as fully non-comparative. To further develop our knowledge about how and why the mass media exert influence on the political agenda, three ways forward are suggested. First, we need better theory about why political actors would adopt media issues and start devoting attention to them. The core of such a theory should be the notion of the applicability of information encapsulated in the media coverage to the goals and the task at hand of the political actors. Media information has a number of features that make it very attractive for political actors to use—it is often negative, for instance. Second, we plead for a disaggregation of the level of analysis from the institutional level (e.g., parliament) or the collective actor level (e.g., party) to the individual level (e.g., members of parliament). Since individuals process media information, and since the goals and tasks of individuals that trigger the applicability mechanism are diverse, the best way to move forward is to tackle the agenda setting puzzle at the individual level. This implies surveying individual elites or, even better, implementing experimental designs to individual elite actors. Third, the field is in dire need of comparative work comparing how political actors respond to media coverage across countries or political systems.

scholarly journals The Socio-Political Role of Zombie Categories. A Case Study of the Referendum Amending Article 48 of The Romanian Constitution (6-7 October 2018)

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Georgeta Ghebrea
Keyword(s):  
Risk Society ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Public ◽  
Traditional Family ◽  
Political Role ◽  
Public Agenda ◽  
The Social ◽  
Definition Of

Our scope was to explain the failure of the Referendum on the revision of Article 48 of the Romanian Constitution, regarding the definition of family (held in 2018 and known as the "traditional family referendum"). We hypothesized that in Romania the traditional family has become a "zombie" category, unable to produce an authentic mobilization of the social-political actors. Still, the traditional family represents an anchor that counteracts insecurity and anxiety caused by the "risk society" in which we live. This function is capitalized by social-political actors as a source of their legitimation. Our understanding was based on the processual analysis of this issue on the public agenda, from inflammation to extinction. This analysis clearly showed the process of gradual demobilization of the actors involved.

scholarly journals Fulfilling the journalistic principles of truth and objectivity in the context of mediatisation of political communication – the terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015

2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafał Leśniczak
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Mass Media ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The Times

The mediatisation of political communication indicates two main functions of the mass media: they report on events from the world of politics and create the images of political actors in the eyes of the public. I attempt to answer the question: can one talk about respecting the basic principles of journalistic ethics (the truth and the objectivity principles) in the times of the mediatisation of the public sphere? The theme of the article applies to terrorism, which is a form of political communication, having its own special expression. The activities of terrorist organisations influence the actions of the leaders of political life, citizens and the mass media. The research material consisted of Polish opinion-making weeklies Newsweek Polska and Polityka and national dailies in their printed versions: Gazeta Wyborcza and Rzeczpospolita. The time frame covered a period from 1 November 2015 to 11 December 2015. The topic of the article was treated as a case study.

Los medios de comunicación y la lucha contra la corrupción

2016 ◽  
pp. 163-198
Author(s):  
Francesc-Andreu MARTÍNEZ GALLEGO
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Political Corruption ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
El Sistema ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Mass Media ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Medios De Comunicacion

LABURPENA: Lan hau komunikabideen eta ustelkeria politikoaren arteko harremanei buruzkoa da. Lanaren estrategia komunikabideek gobernatzaileen eta gobernatuen arteko harremanak hedatzeko bitarteko aktiboak bezala duten jarrera agertzea da, hau da, komunikabideek ustelkeriari buruz emandako informazioa izan ez dadin prentsaren jatorrietatik datorren ataza soila, hots, askatasun publikoen eta gobernu onaren watchdog or atari-txakur lana. Gauzak horrela, komunikabideak aktore politikoak dira, interes partikularrak dituzte eta egitateekiko elkarrekintza dute, eta egitate horiei garrantzia ematen diete (edo ez), interesen arabera. Ustelkeria politikoko eskandaluak kazetaritzako argitan, komunikabideen enpresen interesen arabera eta sistema politikoaren eta komunikabide sistemaren arteko harremanak kontuan izanda aztertu behar dira. Horrela soilik ahal izango diogu lana honen funtsari ekin, alegia: zer egin dezakete komunikabideek demokraziaren kalitatea handitzeko, hau da, ustelkeria politikoa bertatik erauzi edo, gutxienez, mugatzeko? RESUMEN: El presente trabajo es un estudio crítico sobre la relación existente entre medios de comunicación y corrupción política. La estrategia del mismo consiste en desvelar la posición de los medios de comunicación como mediatizadores activos de la relación entre gobernantes y gobernados, de manera que la información sobre corrupción producida por los medios no se vea como el mero cumplimiento de una tarea asignada desde sus orígenes ilustrados a la prensa, a saber, su labor de watchdog o perro guardián de las libertades públicas y del buen gobierno. Vistas así las cosas, los medios se configuran como actores políticos con intereses particulares que interaccionan con los hechos y a los que confieren (o no) la entidad de noticiables en grados diversos. Los escándalos de corrupción política deben estudiarse a la luz de las narrativas periodísticas, a la luz de los condicionamientos empresariales de los medios y a la luz de la configuración de las relaciones entre el sistema político y el sistema mediático. Sólo así podremos encarar la cuestión de fondo que se plantea al final de este trabajo y que pregunta qué pueden hacer los medios de comunicación para acrecentar la calidad de la democracia extirpando o al menos limitando en ella la corrupción política. ABSTRACT: This work is a critical analysis about the relationship between mass media and political corruption. Its strategy is to unveil the mass media position as an activ mediator in the relationship between governers and governeds so that information about corruption by the media cannot be seen as the simple fullfilment of an assigned task to the press since its Enlightment origins, i.e. their job of watchdog or guard dog for public liberties and good governance. As things stand, mass media are configured as political actors with particular interests that interact with facts to which the give (or not) a gradual entity of political newsworthiness. The scandals of political corruption should be studied in the light of journalistic narratives, corporate constraints of the mass media and the setting of relationships among the political and the media system. Only this way we will be able to face the underlying issue that arises at the end of this work and that questions what mass media can do in order to improve the quality of democracy by removing or at least constraining within the political corruption.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Livnat Holtzman
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Rhetorical Devices ◽  
Political Events ◽  
Standing Up ◽  
Definition Of

This chapter introduces the corpus of aḥādīth al-ṣifāt and its role in shaping the traditionalistic definition of anthropomorphism through the case-study of an anthropomorphic tradition attributed to Mujahid, one of the earliest Quran exegetes. According to this tradition, the ‘honourable station’ (maqām maḥmūd) which is mentioned in Quran 17:79, denotes that the Prophet Muhammad will sit on the heavenly throne with God. This marginal tradition which was rejected by the majority of the traditionalists became an iconic text due the relentless efforts of the Baghdadian Hanbalites of the ninth and tenth centuries. The Hanbalites toiled to prove the antiquity and the authenticity of the text, while using an array of rhetorical devices to promote this text and sanctify it. Thus, Abu Bakr al-Marwazi (d. 888), who was Ahmad ibn Hanbal’s (d. 855) foremost disciple, used to illustrate Muhammad’s sitting on the throne by standing up and sitting down. This gesture conveyed the Hanbalite creed that Muhammad’s sitting on the throne was actual rather than metaphoric. The political events that accompanied this anthropomorphic text are also surveyed in this chapter.

Conflation in political gardening: concepts and practice

2019 ◽  
pp. 22-37
Author(s):  
Lucy Rose Wright ◽  
Ross Fraser Young
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Aspect ◽  
Academic Interest ◽  
Working Definition ◽  
Urban Gardening ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Everyday Space ◽  
Political Turn

This chapter is an introduction to the concept of political gardening; it aims to inform the reader of the political turn in the urban gardening movement. It begins by contextualising the re-evaluation of ‘everyday space’ through the neoliberal processes of privatisation, devolution and entrepreneurialism. It then marries together these processes with the rise of academic interest in urban gardening and a more recently the political aspect of this movement. The chapter then conflates the ideas of political gardening with injustice based on Rawls theory of social justice. Case study examples are then used to unpack the process of political gardening – in six iterative stages - in dealing with these injustices, arriving at a working definition of what political gardening is and that it is not just a term but also a process in which participants undergo towards becoming engaged ‘democratised’ citizens.

Inquiring the Political Strategy of Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF) in Post-2018 Ethiopia

2021 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 333-358
Author(s):  
Asabu S. Alamineh ◽  
Birhanu B. Geremew ◽  
Kidanu A. Temesgen
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Qualitative Case Study ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Ethnic Politics ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Strategy ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Political Reconciliation ◽  
Political Decisions

Abstract The upsurge of TPLF led regime to power installed ethnic politics and deconstruction of Ethiopian history with corporate corruption, ultra-vires and pseudo-federalism. The misappropriations of national assets added with autocratic nature of the regime procreated erratic political oppositions and protests since the party set on to power. The political marginalization at intra-party level also created split, which brought state elites in Amhara and Oromia regions to support the acute popular protest. These political scenarios have compelled TPLF to abscond into Mekelle and the coming of reformist leaders to power in 2018. This paper thus aimed to uncover TPLF’s political strategy in post 2018 Ethiopia by employing a qualitative case study with a secondary data obtained from Mass Media, commentaries and digitized outlets. The loss of key political positions and attachment of the regime’s wrong deeds to TPLF has bugging its elites after the coming of the new premiership. As counter to the reformist leaders, TPLF undertook huge militarization, destabilization and proxies, inducing popular fear, supporting like-minded regional oppositions to propagandize sensitive political issues to regain its lost prestige. This power rivalry created political absurdism, where political decisions and policies of the reformists had continued to be officially banned by TPLF in a way that disastrously impacted the survival of the state. Thus, it is important to undertake political reconciliation to freeze the prevailing political deadlocks for the continuation of the polity.

scholarly journals Risk perceptions and public debates on climate change: a conceptualisation based on the theory of a functionally-differentiated society

2010 ◽  
Vol 26 (49) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Markus Rhomberg
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Mass Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Risk Perceptions ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Public ◽  
Climate Change Risks ◽  
Media Systems ◽  
Definition Of

Mass media and its mechanisms of production and selection play a crucial role in the definition of climate change risks. Different form of logic in the political, scientific and media systems are vital aspects in the public debate on this issue. A theoretical analysis of these aspects needs a framework in terms of social theory: Luhmann’s concept of a functionally-differentiated society and the mechanisms of structural couplings could help to understand the relations and interplay of these systems in the climate-debate. Based on this framework and various empirical studies, this paper suggests: different logics lead to different climate-definitions in science, politics and mass media. Climate change became interesting, but not until it was located in the political decision-making process. Climate issues become publicly interesting, when they are clear, contentious and can be linked to Elite-Persons. In contrast to scientific communication, news media make great efforts to be clear and definite in their communications.

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