Cyberprotest: New Media, Citizens and Social Movements

Description

The internet could have been purpose-built for fostering the growth of the social movements and citizen initiatives which have had such a significant impact on the political landscape since the 1990s. In "Cyberprotest" the contributors explore the effects of this synergy between ICTs (Information Communication Technologies) and people power, analysing the implications for politics and social policy at both a national and a global level. Through a number of different international examples answers are sought to questions such as: to what extent and in what forms do social movements use ICTs?; how do new ICTs facilitate new patterns and forms of citizen mobilization?; how does this use affect the relationship between social movements and their members?; how do ICTs change the way social movement organizations communicate with each other?; and how do they affect the way these movements mobilize and intervene in public debates and political conflicts?

Wim van de Donk is Professor of Public Administration at Tilburg University, and member of the Scientific Counsel for Government Policy in The Hague. Brian. D. Loader is Director of the Community Informatics Research & Applications Unit (www.cira.org.uk) based at the University of Teesside, UK. He is also Editor of the international journal Information, Communication & Society (www.infosoc.co.uk). Paul G. Nixon is a Senior Lecturer in Political Science at the Haagse Hogeschool, Den Haag, Netherlands. Dieter Rucht is Professor of Sociology at the Social Science Research Center Berlin.