RC 10 - Electronic Democracy

Political Communication in Uncertain Times:
Digital Technologies, Citizen Participation and Open Governance

7th and 8th September 2017

We are pleased to announce the call for papers for the forthcoming International Conference of Political Communication organised jointly by the Research Committees for Political Communication (RC22) and Electronic Democracy (RC10) of the International Political Science Association (IPSA) with the CICOM 33rd, International Communication Conference, a yearly event organized by the School of Communication of the University of Navarra (Spain), under the title of “Political Communication in Uncertain Times: Digital Technologies, Citizen Participation and Open Governance”. The conference will be hosted by the University of Navarra in the city of Pamplona, Spain.

The unexpected British exit from the European Union, the migration crisis, the rise of Isis, conflicts in countries as Syria, the emergence of populism and unpredicted citizens’ reactions (such us the rejection of Colombia Peace Plan or the election of President Trump) are only some of the events that are taking place nowadays; they all have in common the uncertainty that brings with them and that characterize the current era.

The purpose of this conference is to consider the state of media and communications research in a political period marked by a variety of events that take place within an uncertain context. The conference theme focuses on the intersection between the role of political communication and digital technologies, both understood as potential pillars that may enhance democracy in a communication context characterised by continuous crises and their transnational consequences. 

Papers should make a contribution to the development of theoretical or empirical studies regarding digital political communication conducted by diverse actors that range from governments, political parties, media organisations, to non-governmental actors, citizens and social movements. Scholars, researchers and professionals are encouraged to submit paper proposals that either broadly or specifically deal with the aforementioned issues, be it by addressing national or comparative studies, theoretical or empirical ones.

We welcome submissions that cover one or more of the following questions:

• New challenges for journalism and communication in a digital society: What changes have journalists and the media in general gone through? Do digital technologies change traditional concepts of media power? Do media and communication technologies support the formation of community?

• Media coverage and journalist behaviour during moments of political turmoil: What role can media play at times of crisis? Which frames appeared repeatedly while media reported about an event? Is there any danger regarding the empowerment of certain voices while others are ignored?

• Digital technology in election campaigns: How have election campaigns changed in styles, strategies, tools and with what impacts on voter engagement? What factors are shaping election outcomes in the digital age, and to what extent?

• Relationship between representatives and citizens: How do governments and institutions deal with the opportunity and challenges introduced by digital technologies? Do they help to promote a real conversation between both sides? To what extent do they reduce the gap between them?

• New parties in the political scene: Are new technologies promoting the emergence of populist parties? To what extent communication from a new party is different to those from traditional parties? Is there any visible pattern shared by new political actors?

• Political actors and new technologies: To what extent are new technologies shaping political parties? Can we distinguish different practices and uses depending on the countries? Are those different practices somehow driven by any ideological perspective?

• Digital Technology in public diplomacy: How digital media are shaping international political communication? How should international political actors adapt communication to the new digital audiences? Do digital media allow dialogue and interaction with international publics?

• New voices, a multiplicity of agents in the public sphere: Can digital technologies transform the characteristics of the traditional public sphere? Is it possible to have an online public sphere? Will an online public sphere enhance democracy? Do media technologies constitute a new public sphere?

• Mobilization and participation: Are digital technologies really able to empower citizens' political participation? Do they empower specific voices in detriment of others? To what extent social media play a relevant role on social movements? Can we talk about social media echo chambers in some results of recent political events?

For more information, see the website at 
http://www.unav.edu/en/web/facultad-de-comunicacion/cicom33

Dubrovnik, Croatia, 26 – 27 May 2014

Supported by the IPSA RC10

Organized by the Faculty of Political Science and InMed Institute in partnership with DEL research network

Call for papers

IPSA’s Research Committee 10 on Electronic democracy and Faculty of Political Science in partnership with DEL research network are organizing IPSA Workshop on “Innovations in Democracy: e-voting, e-campaigning, e-participation” on first two days (26-27 May 2014) of the Conference „Regulation and Freedom of New Media“. Following topics are announced.

Topics

E-voting
E-consultations
E-representatives
E-petitions
E-initiatives
E-referendum
Online deliberative polls
Online communities
E-campaigns
E-citizens

Interested participants should first submit an abstract (a 300-word outline) of their paper by 31 March, 2014, indicating clearly its subject and scope, and including a provisional title. The abstracts received will be peer-reviewed and authors will be notified of the outcome by 10 April, 2014

Authors of accepted abstracts will be required to send the full paper by 15, May 2014. Full papers should not exceed 8,000 words in length, including notes and references.

NOTE : The Proceedings will be published by the Faculty of Political Science in Zagreb.

The conference language is English.

We invite individuals from academic and practical backgrounds as well as public administration offices, public bodies, NGOs, education institutions and independent organizations, to submit their contributions.

Costs
EUR 40 – for authors
EUR 65 – for participants

The fee includes conference entry, proceedings and social program during the conference.
Pre-conference social program is to be announced.

Important dates

- Abstract submission : please submit a 300-word abstract by 31 March
- Notification of acceptance of abstracts : 10 April, 2014
- Full paper submission : please submit the full paper by 15 May, 2014
Workshop : 26 – 27 May 2014
Conference : 28 May – 30 May 2014

Submissions
Please send all submissions by electronic mail in pdf format to milica@edemokracija.hr.
All submissions are subject to a double-blind full paper review by at least 2 reviewers. To facilitate the review process, please write a separate cover sheet with the paper title and affiliation/s and omit the affiliations in the actual paper.

Participants who are not contributors (i.e. who do not propose a paper) can apply through our web site www.edemokracija.hr. Please note that the number of non contributing participants is limited so we encourage you to apply as early as possible.

For further information please visit : www.edemokracija.hr

Workshop Chairs
Prof. dr. Nenad Prelog (president) nenad@edemokracija.hr
Doc.dr. Domagoj Bebić (secretary general) domagoj@edemokracija.hr

Contact Details
Milica Vuckovic (coordinator)
milica@edemokracija.hr
Šibenska 1, 10 000 Zagreb, Hrvatska
t : 01 307 9113 f : 01 307 9113

Call for papers: Conference: “Direct and deliberative democracy. An intercontinental perspective”
Wednesday, March 9. - Saturday, March 12. 2011
Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies (STIAS) Stellenbosch, South Africa

Is there a crisis of democracy? Globally “electoral representative democracies” are highly criticized. Voter apathy and cynicism is growing. But also “unconventional” participation is facing a crisis. New social movements often seem to become violent meaningless protest. Are there any alternatives to the “brick or ballot“?

In this conference on the one hand new forms of "dialogical deliberative instruments" such as participatory budgeting, mini publics, future search conferences, ward committees etc. are discussed on the other hand “direct democratic instruments” such as referendums and initiatives will be analysed. Both democratic channels are seen as an innovation and addition for mainstream traditional democracies. Nowadays democratic innovation seems to be generated mostly in the global South. Brazil and other countries “export” participatory instruments into the old democracies in Europe and Northern America. New “dialogical participatory instruments” such as participatory budgeting were implemented firstly in developing countries in Porto Alegre, Brazil and spread worldwide. Democratic as well as non-democratic countries such as China implement deliberative dialogical instruments. In the last decades referendums and initiatives became en vogue in some Latin American countries. In Africa plebiscites are frequently used in nation building as well as in constitutional processes. In some European countries referendums seem to boom at the local level, where more municipalities implement referendums and initiatives.

There is no in-depth comparative evaluation focusing on these developments. Evaluation criteria encompass criteria such as openness, political control and responsiveness, rationality and transparency as well as effectiveness and efficiency. What are the functions of these political engagements? Are they implemented in planning, conflict resolution? What are intended as well as unintended results? What kind of actors is involved? What are the contexts and experiences as well as the pros and cons in the different continents? The core presentations should give a continental overview. Furthermore these presentations should analyse three to four countries in detail.

Finally the idea is to bridge these two fields of direct and deliberative democracy research. Can dialogical democratic instruments and instruments of direct democracy (Initiatives and Referendums) be combined? Is it useful to combine dialogical and direct democracy? If yes, can this be institutionalized? Are the new instruments one way to reinvigorate democracies or to democratize “non democracies” from below? Or is this “invited space” of direct and deliberative democracy more a rubber stamp factory? Can marginalized groups become meaningfully involved in political decision making?

Deadline for paper proposals and abstracts (200 words) is 15 January 2011. : Prof. Norbert Kersting (Stellenbosch University) (kersting@sun.ac.za)

Papers can focus on theory of deliberative and direct democracy and on a nexus between these two. Papers on effects of deliberative and direct democracy on social movements, civic education and empowerment as well as relevant country studies (India, Brazil etc.) are highly welcome.

The conference is co-organized by Prof Norbert Kersting, Willy Brandt Chair on Transformation and Regional Integration (DAAD)- Stellenbosch University and International Political Science Association (IPSA) Research Committee 5 "Comparative Studies on Local Government and Politics”