scholarly journals Digital Civic Participation and Misinformation during the 2020 Taiwanese Presidential Election

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 144-157
Author(s):  
Ho-Chun Herbert Chang ◽  
Samar Haider ◽  
Emilio Ferrara
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
The Political ◽  
Online Engagement ◽  
Fact Checking ◽  
Critical Case Study ◽  
Emergent Coordination

From fact-checking chatbots to community-maintained misinformation databases, Taiwan has emerged as a critical case-study for citizen participation in politics online. Due to Taiwan’s geopolitical history with China, the recent 2020 Taiwanese Presidential Election brought fierce levels of online engagement led by citizens from both sides of the strait. In this article, we study misinformation and digital participation on three platforms, namely Line, Twitter, and Taiwan’s Professional Technology Temple (PTT, Taiwan’s equivalent of Reddit). Each of these platforms presents a different facet of the elections. Results reveal that the greatest level of disagreement occurs in discussion about incumbent president Tsai. Chinese users demonstrate emergent coordination and selective discussion around topics like China, Hong Kong, and President Tsai, whereas topics like Covid-19 are avoided. We discover an imbalance of the political presence of Tsai on Twitter, which suggests partisan practices in disinformation regulation. The cases of Taiwan and China point toward a growing trend where regular citizens, enabled by new media, can both exacerbate and hinder the flow of misinformation. The study highlights an overlooked aspect of misinformation studies, beyond the veracity of information itself, that is the clash of ideologies, practices, and cultural history that matter to democratic ideals.

Language Movement and Civil War in West Africa

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ericka A. Albaugh
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Political Process ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Language Spread ◽  
The 1960S

This chapter examines how civil war can influence the spread of language. Specifically, it takes Sierra Leone as a case study to demonstrate how Krio grew from being primarily a language of urban areas in the 1960s to one spoken by most of the population in the 2000s. While some of this was due to “normal” factors such as population movement and growing urbanization, the civil war from 1991 to 2002 certainly catalyzed the process of language spread in the 1990s. Using census documents and surveys, the chapter tests the hypothesis at the national, regional, and individual levels. The spread of a language has political consequences, as it allows for citizen participation in the political process. It is an example of political scientists’ approach to uncovering the mechanisms for and evidence of language movement in Africa.

Social Media as Alternative Public Sphere for Citizen Participation and Protest in National Politics in Zimbabwe

2018 ◽  
pp. 17-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Collen Sabao ◽  
Tendai Owen Chikara
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
The Political ◽  
National Politics ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Impact

The chapter examines and discusses the role and communicative potential of social media based platforms in citizen political participation and protests in Zimbabwe specifically focusing on the #thisflag movement on Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp. #thisflag is a social media-based platform that rose to challenge the Zimbabwean government over the political and economic decay as well as rampant corruption characterising the country contemporarily. While a new phenomenon to Zimbabwe and Zimbabwean politics, the impact and communicative potential of social media as an alternative public sphere was recently tested in nationwide protest stayaway organised through the Facebook and Twitter movement under the #thisflag handle/brand. This chapter discusses the manners in which such social media platforms impact national politics in Zimbabwe as well as globally, specifically looking at the #thisflag movement as a case study.

Social Media as Alternative Public Sphere for Citizen Participation and Protest in National Politics in Zimbabwe

2020 ◽  
pp. 772-786
Author(s):  
Collen Sabao ◽  
Tendai Owen Chikara
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
The Political ◽  
National Politics ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Impact

The chapter examines and discusses the role and communicative potential of social media based platforms in citizen political participation and protests in Zimbabwe specifically focusing on the #thisflag movement on Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp. #thisflag is a social media-based platform that rose to challenge the Zimbabwean government over the political and economic decay as well as rampant corruption characterising the country contemporarily. While a new phenomenon to Zimbabwe and Zimbabwean politics, the impact and communicative potential of social media as an alternative public sphere was recently tested in nationwide protest stayaway organised through the Facebook and Twitter movement under the #thisflag handle/brand. This chapter discusses the manners in which such social media platforms impact national politics in Zimbabwe as well as globally, specifically looking at the #thisflag movement as a case study.

scholarly journals „Dumna dziewczyna w bieli"

2021 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-112
Author(s):  
Agata Włodkowska
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
Power Shift ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Power Change ◽  
Women's Political Participation

The article is part of the discussion on women’s political participation, their involvement in social movements and protests which are concentrated on the power shift and democratisation of the political system. The text focuses on the case study of Belarusian women’s participation in anti-regime and pro-democracy protests following the rigged presidential election of 9 August 2020.The aim of the article is to answer questions about the reasons for women’s involvement in the 2020 protests in Belarus and the methods of action used by them. The article also analyses the differences and similarities between the women’s protests in Belarus and pro-democracy protests oriented towards power change in other countries.

New Media in Kenya

2011 ◽  
pp. 40-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin C. Njoroge ◽  
Purity Kimani ◽  
Bernard J. Kikech
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Ethnic Differences ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
The People ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Way

The way the media processes, frames, and passes on information either to the government or to the people affects the function of the political system. This chapter discusses the interaction between new media and ethnicity in Kenya, Africa. The chapter investigates ways in which the new media reinforced issues relating to ethnicity prior to Kenya’s 2007 presidential election. In demonstrating the nexus between new media and ethnicity, the chapter argues that the upsurge of ethnic animosity was chiefly instigated by new media’s influence. Prior to the election, politicians had mobilized their supporters along ethnic lines, and created a tinderbox situation. Thus, there is need for the new media in Kenya to help the citizens to redefine the status of ethnic relationships through the recognition of ethnic differences and the re-discovery of equitable ways to accommodate them; after all, there is more strength than weaknesses in these differences.

Political entrepreneurship: Jefferson, Bayard, and the election of 1800

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 298-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noel Campbell ◽  
Marcus Witcher
Keyword(s):  
Presidential Election ◽  
The Political ◽  
Historical Case Study ◽  
Historical Case ◽  
Content Type ◽  
British North America ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Political Entrepreneurship ◽  
Revolutionary Period

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that an implication of Holcombe’s (2002) model is a “revolution trap.” This paper extends Holcombe’s model adding Klein’s concept of entrepreneurship as judgment concerning the use of heterogeneous political capital. The authors use the case of the USA presidential election of 1800 to demonstrate the utility of the extension, and to discuss how political entrepreneurship served to prevent a revolution trap. The political entrepreneurship of 1800 established the precedent of peaceful transition of power in the USA, which opened the door to the rapid economic development of the early nineteenth century. Design/methodology/approach – This is a historical case study using letters, newspapers, pamphlets, and other pieces of empirical evidence to highlight an important moment of political entrepreneurship. Findings – Many contemporary observers predicted that the USA would devolve into continuous revolution, which the authors argue Holcombe’s (2002) model predicts. However, political entrepreneurship ended the revolutionary period in the former British North America. Moreover, the political entrepreneurship ending the election crisis established the precedent of peaceful political succession. This precedent comparatively elevated the returns of productive, market entrepreneurship (Baumol, 1990). As a result, the USA experiences a prolonged period of entrepreneurially driven economic growth. Originality/value – To the authors knowledge, no one has developed the implication of a “revolution trap” from Holcombe’s (2002) model, nor has anyone applied Klein’s (2008) model to extend Holcombe’s model of political entrepreneurship. Although the disputed presidential election of 1800 has been extensively researched, no one has analyzed the election and its resolution from the perspective of political entrepreneurship.

Alfredo Casella and the rhetoric of colonialism

2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Basini
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Visual Imagery ◽  
Music History ◽  
The Political ◽  
Popular Song ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Impact ◽  
Italian Music

AbstractWhile the political impact of Italy's 1936 Ethiopian invasion has long been recognized, its cultural history has only recently come under scrutiny. This paper investigates one musical legacy of Mussolini's colonial project by means of a case study of Alfredo Casella's Il deserto tentato (The Attempted Desert, 1937). Performed on the first anniversary of the Empire's founding and dedicated to ‘Mussolini, fondatore dell'Impero’, the work depicts the arrival of a group of Italian airmen in Ethiopia and their welcome by the indigenous peoples. I set the text against contemporary propaganda such as speeches, visual imagery and popular song, exploring tropes central to fascist imperialist rhetoric: virility, civiltà and aeronautical prowess. The opera's integration of historical musical references into a modern musical setting not only represents the theme of endowing the Ethiopian people with a history, in this case embodied by the Italian musical past, but also exemplifies a contemporary desire to make the past present in everyday fascist life. The historiography of Casella's work, what is more, characterized by the same ‘missing debate’ as the broader discussion of Italian colonialism, raises questions about the effects of Italy's ‘memory wars’ on accounts of twentieth-century Italian music history.

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