Yanina Welp – författare

This book is the first to comprehensively analyse the political and societal impacts of new Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in a region of the Global South. It evaluates under what conditions some Latin American governments and people have succeeded in taking up the opportunities related to the spread of ICTs, while others are confronted with the pessimist scenario of increased, digitally induced social and democratic cleavages.

Specifically, the book examines if and how far the spread and use of new ICT affected central aims of democratic governance such as reducing socio-economic and gender inequality; strengthening citizen participation in political decision making; increasing the transparency of legislative processes; improving administrative processes; providing free access to government data and information; and expanding independent spaces of citizen communication. The country case and cross-country explore a range of bottom-up driven initiatives to reinforce democracy in the region.

The book offers researchers and students an interdisciplinary approach to these issues by linking it to established theories of media and politics, political communication, political participation, and governance. Giving voice to researchers native to the region and with direct experience of the region, it uniquely brings together contributions from political scientists, researchers in communication studies and area studies specialists who have a solid record in political activism and international development co-operation.

This book is the first to comprehensively analyse the political and societal impacts of new Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in a region of the Global South. It evaluates under what conditions some Latin American governments and people have succeeded in taking up the opportunities related to the spread of ICTs, while others are confronted with the pessimist scenario of increased, digitally induced social and democratic cleavages.

Specifically, the book examines if and how far the spread and use of new ICT affected central aims of democratic governance such as reducing socio-economic and gender inequality; strengthening citizen participation in political decision making; increasing the transparency of legislative processes; improving administrative processes; providing free access to government data and information; and expanding independent spaces of citizen communication. The country case and cross-country explore a range of bottom-up driven initiatives to reinforce democracy in the region.

The book offers researchers and students an interdisciplinary approach to these issues by linking it to established theories of media and politics, political communication, political participation, and governance. Giving voice to researchers native to the region and with direct experience of the region, it uniquely brings together contributions from political scientists, researchers in communication studies and area studies specialists who have a solid record in political activism and international development co-operation.

The Will of the People: Populism and Citizen Participation in Latin America argues that while populist leaders typically claim to speak ''in the name of the people'', they rarely allow the people to express their opinion independently through institutions of citizen participation. The argument is rooted in theoretical discussions and empirical analyses of trends and specific cases.

The volume deals with the following questions: Why is populism so prolific in the Latin American region? How and where do populist leaders arrive to power? Is there a connection between populism and fascism as claimed by negative views of Argentinian Peronism? Are populist leaders more keen on introducing mechanisms of direct citizen participation? Are the erosions of the political party system an explanation of the emergence of populism, as seems to be the case with Fujimorism in Peru? To what extent have the governments of Hugo Chávez, Evo Morales and Rafael Correa given voice to the people through the so-called participatory democracy?

The Will of the People: Populism and Citizen Participation in Latin America argues that while populist leaders typically claim to speak ''in the name of the people'', they rarely allow the people to express their opinion independently through institutions of citizen participation. The argument is rooted in theoretical discussions and empirical analyses of trends and specific cases.

The volume deals with the following questions: Why is populism so prolific in the Latin American region? How and where do populist leaders arrive to power? Is there a connection between populism and fascism as claimed by negative views of Argentinian Peronism? Are populist leaders more keen on introducing mechanisms of direct citizen participation? Are the erosions of the political party system an explanation of the emergence of populism, as seems to be the case with Fujimorism in Peru? To what extent have the governments of Hugo Chávez, Evo Morales and Rafael Correa given voice to the people through the so-called participatory democracy?

This book constitutes the proceedings of the Third International Conference on Internet Science held in Florence, Italy, in September 2016.

The 25 papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected for inclusion in this volume. They were organized in topical sections named: collective awareness and crowdsourcing platforms¸ collaboration, privacy and conformity in virtual/social environments; internet interoperability, freedom and data analysis; smart cities and sociotechnical systems.