Bücher der Reihe Communication, Society and Politics

Relations between the public and holders of political authority are in a period of transformative flux. On the one side, new expectations and meanings of citizenship are being entertained and occasionally acted upon. On the other, an inexorable impoverishment of mainstream political communication is taking place. This book argues that the Internet has the potential to improve public communications and enrich democracy, a project that requires imaginative policy-making. This argument is developed through three stages: first exploring the theoretical foundations for renewing democratic citizenship, then examining practical case studies of e-democracy, and finally, reviewing the limitations of recent policies designed to promote e-democracy and setting out a radical, but practical proposal for an online civic commons: a trusted public space where the dispersed energies, self-articulations and aspirations of citizens can be rehearsed, in public, within a process of ongoing feedback to the various levels and centers of governance: local, national and transnational.

Societies around the world have experienced a flood of information from diverse channels originating beyond local communities and even national borders, transmitted through the rapid expansion of cosmopolitan communications. For more than half a century, conventional interpretations, Norris and Inglehart argue, have commonly exaggerated the potential threats arising from this process. A series of firewalls protect national cultures. This book develops a new theoretical framework for understanding cosmopolitan communications and uses it to identify the conditions under which global communications are most likely to endanger cultural diversity. The authors analyze empirical evidence from both the societal level and the individual level, examining the outlook and beliefs of people in a wide range of societies. The study draws on evidence from the World Values Survey, covering 90 societies in all major regions worldwide from 1981 to 2007. The conclusion considers the implications of their findings for cultural policies.

For a number of years, voters and academic observers have been dissatisfied with a number of elements of American campaigns. Contemporary races are seen as too negative, too superficial, and too unfair or misleading. Based on these complaints, a variety of reform organizations have targeted millions of dollars to improve the situation. Through their efforts and those within the academic community, a wide range of reform initiatives have been undertaken, such as voluntary codes of conduct, industry self-regulation, certificate programs, tougher ethics rules for consultants, and the encouragement of more substantive venues. This book seeks to evaluate whether these activities have improved the level of campaign discourse and conduct in US House and Senate campaigns and argues that while individual reform efforts have achieved some of their stated objectives, the overall effect of these reform efforts has been disappointing.

Did media coverage contribute to Americans' tendency to favor national security over civil liberties following the 9/11 attacks? How did news framing of terrorist threats support the expanding surveillance state revealed by Edward Snowden? Douglas M. McLeod and Dhavan V. Shah explore the power of news coverage to render targeted groups suspicious and to spur support for government surveillance. They argue that the tendency of journalists to frame stories around individual targets of surveillance - personifying the domestic threat - shapes citizens' judgments about tolerance and participation, leading them to limit the civil liberties of a range of groups under scrutiny and to support 'Big Brother'.

Using controversy over abortion as a lens through which to compare the political process and role of the media in these two very different democracies, this book examines the contest over meaning that is being waged by social movements, political parties, churches and other social actors. Abortion is a critical battleground for debates over social values in both countries, but the constitutional premises on which arguments rest differ, as do the strategies that movements and parties adopt and the opportunities for influence that are open to them. By examining how these debates are conducted and by whom in light of the normative claims made by democratic theorists, the book also offers a means of judging how well either country lives up to the ideals of democratic debate in practice.

This book explores how digital media use affects political attitudes and behavior and how this relationship is shaped by political environments across countries. While research has concentrated on the United States and United Kingdom, such results are set in comparative relief to cases across Europe, Latin-America, the Middle-East and Asia.

This book explores how digital media use affects political attitudes and behavior and how this relationship is shaped by political environments across countries. While research has concentrated on the United States and United Kingdom, such results are set in comparative relief to cases across Europe, Latin-America, the Middle-East and Asia.

Comparing Media Systems Beyond the Western World explores the relation between media and political systems in a wide range of non-Western contexts, analyzing the variety of ways in which media interact with the state and with various political actors and the roles journalists play in these relationships.

Comparing Media Systems Beyond the Western World explores the relation between media and political systems in a wide range of non-Western contexts, analyzing the variety of ways in which media interact with the state and with various political actors and the roles journalists play in these relationships.

This book investigates an important source of the European Union's recent legitimacy problems. It shows how European integration is debated in the mass media, and how this affects democratic inclusiveness. It is the most far-reaching and empirically grounded study on the Europeanization of media discourse and political contention to date.

This book investigates an important source of the European Union's recent legitimacy problems. It shows how European integration is debated in the mass media, and how this affects democratic inclusiveness. It is the most far-reaching and empirically grounded study on the Europeanization of media discourse and political contention to date.

This volume assesses comparative political communication research and considers potential ways in which it could and should develop. This book is aimed at introducing new students to a crucial, dynamic field as well as deepening advanced students' knowledge of its principles and perspectives.

This volume assesses comparative political communication research and considers potential ways in which it could and should develop. This book is aimed at introducing new students to a crucial, dynamic field as well as deepening advanced students' knowledge of its principles and perspectives.

This book presents a unique perspective on the relationship between politics and the media in different political regimes. The conclusions challenge conventional wisdom concerning the political roles and effects of the mass media on regime support and change, on the political behavior of citizens, and on the quality of democracy.

This book presents a unique perspective on the relationship between politics and the media in different political regimes. The conclusions challenge conventional wisdom concerning the political roles and effects of the mass media on regime support and change, on the political behavior of citizens, and on the quality of democracy.

In Mediated Politics, distinguished international scholars investigate the questions arising from the epochal changes in democratic political communication. The authors combine developments in political communication with core questions about politics and policy in suggesting new theoretical directions for the discipline.