[ecrea] New book announcement: Pirate Politics: The New Information Policy Contests by Patrick Burkart

Pirate Politics: The New Information Policy Contests by Patrick Burkart is available now from the MIT Press. [http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/pirate-politics]

Burkart uses critical systems theory, international political economy of communication, and a sociological approach to evaluate the democratic potentials of the campaigns of the Pirate Parties of Sweden and Germany. The book is specifically concerned about the politicization of the Internet as a potential domain of freedom that has fallen prey to corporate and state colonization. It considers the explicit and tacit interrelationships between the Pirate Parties of Sweden and Germany, WikiLeaks, and Anonymous in defending the lifeworld online in submerged, transnational networks of activism oriented to expanding digital rights.


Pirate Politics:



·     includes details of contemporary Pirate campaign strategies, leadership, identity politics, and resource mobilization



·     explores the factors contributing to the emergence of pirate politics in Sweden



·     traces historical and contemporary linkages between pirate politics, environmentalism, and ecology



This examination of the Pirate political movement in Europe analyzes its advocacy for free expression and the preservation of the Internet as a commons.

“Pirate Politics documents the importance of activist groups whose online skill and political savvy show us how to resist a world defined by nonstop commerce and pervasive surveillance. Combining careful research and a creative assessment of social movement theory, Burkart provides a thoughtful profile of those cyber-nomads who dare to insist on an open and democratic information society.”—Vincent Mosco, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Queen’s University

“Pirate Politics provides a reassuring tale amid celebratory intellectual property rights rationalization treatises, on the one hand, and dire warnings about the impact of regulatory enclosure of the communications commons, on the other. Burkart demonstrates how increasing pressure to close off our virtual lifeworld through top-down communications policies has triggered a key countervailing movement, powerful in its potential for change. A must-read for anyone in need of a good dose of hope.”—Lisa Brooten, Associate Professor, Department of Radio, Television and Digital Media, Southern Illinois University Carbondale



for more information or to purchase a copy, visit

http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/pirate-politics

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