Political Communication Section of ECREA - 2009 Section Conference
CALL FOR PAPERS
Mediated Citizenship: Political Information and Participation in Europe
17 - 18 September 2009, Leeds (UK)
In June 2009 European citizens will elect a new European Parliament, some of
them who joined the European Union only recently for the first time. 2009
will also see numerous national elections throughout Europe. The Political
Communication section will take this important election year in Europe as an
opportunity to revisit one of the key areas of political communication
research - how democratic participation is shaped and transformed by
processes of mediatisation and what consequences this has for the nature of
contemporary citizenship.
The nature of democratic citizenship is presently undergoing fundamental
changes, which are assumed to have far-reaching consequences for the way
democracy works. The relationship between citizens and their elected
representatives seems to be characterized by growing distance, mistrust and
ignorance. Long gone are the days of an ideal (or idealized) Athenian polity
where political engagement was regarded a virtue and daily life was
permeated by political debate. Instead, a growing number of citizens has
withdrawn from politics and doesn't even find it worth the while to follow
the news or to cast their vote. Meanwhile, the enthusiasm that initially
inspired the citizens of the new democracies in Eastern Europe has
evaporated and we now see similar patterns of disenchantment in these
countries like in their established counterparts. Media organisations and
political actors have responded to these developments in various ways - so
far without significant success. Turnout continues to drop, and news
programmes, in particular current affairs programmes, are losing their
audiences.
Are modern democracies, then, left without citizens, as Robert Entman
suggested twenty years ago? The question is even more urgent with regard to
the European Union, which for a long time has been largely ignored by its
citizens, but is now at risk to be rejected altogether, as the recent No
votes in the referenda in Ireland, France and the Netherlands demonstrate.
However, the situation might be more ambiguous and complex. While citizens
are withdrawing from institutionalized politics and established channels of
communication new arenas of participation and new forms of communicating
political ideas have emerged, which for many - in particular the young -
appear more meaningful and more trustworthy. In particular the Internet has
opened up new spaces for democratic citizenship from the local to the global
level that could not have been dreamed of twenty years ago.
The ECREA Political Communication sectional workshop aims to provide a forum
to discuss these themes. We invite empirical as well as theoretical papers
that contribute to understanding contemporary democratic citizenship and the
role of the media, old and new, in shaping the way it is experienced and
practiced. We are particularly interested in papers that address the
following aspects:
. European citizenship: media and perceptions of Europe; participation
and vote choice in European elections and referenda.
. The ballot box and beyond: media and national electoral politics;
non-institutionalised participation; non-voting and political disengagement.
. Communicating to citizens: Mediated and mediatised political
messages; implications for political information and participation.
. Making sense of politics: citizens' response to political
information; information processing and civic knowledge.
. Conceptualizing citizenship (European, national): relationship
between media and citizenship; lay understanding of citizenship.
Submission of contributions:
Abstracts of not more than 500 words should be sent to
(ics-conferences /at/ leeds.ac.uk), mentioning 'Mediated citizenship' in the
subject line.
Deadline: 15 May 2009
Local organiser:
Dr. Katrin Voltmer
Institute of Communications Studies
University of Leeds
Leeds, LS2 9JT
United Kingdom
Tel: ++44-(0)113-3435829
Email: (k.voltmer /at/ leeds.ac.uk)
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