[ecrea] CFP ECPR 2013: The impact of digital technology on contemporary repertoires of contention

Call for papers
ECPR General Conference, Bordeaux
September 2013

The impact of digital technology on contemporary repertoires of contention

Digital technologies have become a steady component of a vast range of
protest movements, motivated by the widespread availability of
Internet communications and apparent political power of social media.
The use of technology-mediated communication in early transnational
mobilization initiatives against the Multilateral Agreement on
Investment (MAI) or during WTO and G8 conferences has found an echo in
more recent protests against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement
(ACTA), in campaigns against stricter copyright enforcement, and in
large-scale events against social and economic inequality like
‘Occupy’, ‘Indignados’ or the ‘Arab Spring’. There is little
agreement, however, over the nature and degree of effectiveness of
digitally enabled repertoires of contention, as ‘online’ mobilization
often builds on ‘offline’ interactions between technically literate
and socially capable individuals. The limited empowerment capabilities
of digital technologies seems to imply, instead, that traditional
protest skills and resources, as well as political and social capital,
remain central to analyzing mobilization over digital networks. To
what extent, then, has activism actually gone ‘digital’, and what
blends of technical, social and political skills are found among the
individuals and organizations that lead and sustain protest events?
This panel welcomes empirical and theoretical papers that answer this
question by examining the impact of digital technology and
communication on contemporary repertoires of contention.

Panel co-chairs:

Yana Breindl
University of Göttingen, Germany
(yana.breindl /at/ sowi.uni-goettingen.de)

François Briatte
University of Grenoble, France
(f.briatte /at/ ed.ac.uk)

The panel discussant will be Mayo Fuster Morell (Universitat Autonoma
de Barcelona).

Proposal instructions:

This panel is part of the “Internet and Politics” section convened by
Fabienne Greffet and Andreas Römmele. All proposals should be
submitted through the ECPR website:
http://new.ecprnet.eu/MyECPR/Forms/PaperProposalForm.aspx?EventID=5&PanelID=1196

The deadline is February 1st, 2013. Seehttp://goo.gl/MjqCK  for
further ECPR instructions.
Please feel naturally free to email the panel co-chairs if you have
further questions.

--

----------------
ECREA-Mailing list
----------------
This mailing list is a free service from ECREA.
---
To unsubscribe, please visit http://www.ecrea.eu/mailinglist
---
ECREA - European Communication Research and Education Association
Postal address:
ECREA
Université Libre de Bruxelles
c/o Dept. of Information and Communication Sciences
CP123, avenue F.D. Roosevelt 50, b-1050 Bruxelles, Belgium
Email: (info /at/ ecrea.eu)
URL: http://www.ecrea.eu
----------------