Research Agenda for Digital Politics

Edited by William H. Dutton, Emeritus Professor, University of Southern California, US, Senior Fellow, Oxford Internet Institute, Oxford Martin Fellow, Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre, University of Oxford and Visiting Professor, School of Media and Communication, University of Leeds, UK

'This rich Research Agenda brings leading international scholars together to rethink the agenda of communication research in the digital age. These perspectives on studying democratic public spheres as they are being reshaped by digital and social media makes this book essential reading.'--W. Lance Bennett, Center for Communication & Civic Engagement, US'The aptly titled A Research Agenda for Digital Politics, edited by William Dutton, addresses the core scholarly, normative, and applied questions raised by the 21st century information environment. Organized around the interrelated themes of ''transformations and continuities'', ''campaigns and elections'', ''Institutional transformation'', ''informational, symbolic, and communicative actions'', and ''reshaping democratic processes and discourses'', the chapters in this volume, written by an interdisciplinary mix of established and emerging scholars, collectively reject simplistic notions of technological determinism, and dystopian or utopian perspectives. In their place are thoughtfully-framed questions amenable to reliable and valid empirical research. As such it is a timely and much-needed blueprint for the emerging field of digital politics.'--Michael X. Delli Carpini, University of Pennsylvania, US'A forward-looking guide for understanding the collision between digital and political worlds and what this entanglement means for society.'--Laura DeNardis, American University, US

• Contents:Preface xiiIntroduction to A Research Agenda for Digital Politics xviiWilliam H. DuttonPART I TRANSFORMATIONS AND CONTINUITIES1 Four challenges for the future of digital politics research 2Andrew Chadwick2 The future of political communication research 13Nick Anstead3 As it was in analogue days: the relevance of legacy research 25Jay G. BlumlerPART II CAMPAIGNS AND ELECTIONS4 Political parties in the digital era 37Paolo Gerbaudo5 Researching the next wave of campaigns: empirical and methodological developments 48Declan McDowell-Naylor6 Digital advertising in political campaigns and elections 60Laleah Fernandez7 The role of digital media in China: participation in an unlikely place 72Wan-Ying Lin and Xinzhi ZhangPART III INSTITUTIONAL TRANSFORMATIONS8 The politics of digital age governance 84Volker Schneider9 How accountable are digital platforms? 97Giles Moss and Heather Ford10 Human rights futures and the digital: a radical research agenda 110M.I. FranklinPART IV INFORMATIONAL, SYMBOLIC AND COMMUNICATIVE ACTIONS11 After clicktivism 123Dave Karpf12 Symbolic politics meets digital media: research on political meaning-making 133Lone Sorensen13 Sending a message: the primacy of action as communication in cyber-security 146Ben O’Loughlin and Alexi DrewPART V RESHAPING DEMOCRATIC PROCESSES AND DISCOURSE14 Beyond toxicity in the online public sphere: understanding incivility in online political talk 160Patrícia Rossini15 Facebook as a third space? The challenge of building global community 171Scott Wright16 Citizenship and the data subject 186Leah A. Lievrouw17 Citizens and their political institutions in a digital context 202Elizabeth Dubois and Florian Martin-Bariteau18 Re-imagining the democratic public 213Stephen ColemanIndex 223