Retooling Politics: How Digital Media Are Shaping Democracy

Description

Donald Trump, the Arab Spring, Brexit: digital media have provided political actors and citizens with new tools to engage in politics. These tools are now routinely used by activists, candidates, non-governmental organizations, and parties to inform, mobilize, and persuade people. But what are the effects of this retooling of politics? Do digital media empower the powerless or are they breaking democracy? Have these new tools and practices fundamentally changed politics or is their impact just a matter of degree? This clear-eyed guide steps back from hyperbolic hopes and fears to offer a balanced account of what aspects of politics are being shaped by digital media and what remains unchanged. The authors discuss data-driven politics, the flow and reach of political information, the effects of communication interventions through digital tools, their use by citizens in coordinating political action, and what their impact is on political organizations and on democracy at large. Contents Acknowledgments 1 The Rise of Digital Media and the Retooling of Politics 1.1 What to Expect? 1.2 Digital Media and the Needs of Political Actors Access to the Flow of Political Information Reaching People Effects of Information Collective Action Organizations Seeing the World Serving or Breaking Democracy? 1.3 What Are the Drivers of Digital Media?s Impact on Politics? Lowering Information Costs Networked Communication 1.4 Retooling Politics: Providing New Tools in the Pursuit of Political Goals 2 The Flow of Political Information 2.1 The Role of Organizations in the Flow of Political Information 2.2 Media Systems 2.3 Controlling Access and Flow of Political Information 2.4 Challenges A Multitude of Voices Unbundling and Atomization The Business of News 2.5 Consequences New News Organizations Combining Old and New Who Watches the Gates? Who Determines What Is True? 2.6 Retooling the Flow of Political Information 3 Reaching People 3.1 Three Dimensions of Reach 3.2 Reaching People Directly and through Partners 3.3 Reaching People through News Media 3.4 Mass Media?s Declining Reach 3.5 Determining Reach 3.6 Mass Audience versus Niche Audiences 3.7 Echo Chambers and Filter Bubbles 3.8 Cutting Out the Middlemen 3.9 The Reach of Disinformation 3.10 Retooling the Reach of Political Information 4 The Effects of Political Information 4.1 What Do We Know? 4.2 Why Should the Effects of Digital Media Be Different? 4.3 Effects on Individuals Bringing People into Politics Informing and Changing Minds Political Talk 4.4 Effects on Society Polarization Digital Divides 4.5 Misreading the Effects of Digital Media The Setup The Sales Pitch The Elusive Promises and Dangers of Psychometric Targeting Where?s the Harm? 4.6 Coming to Terms with Limited and Contingent Effects of Digital Media 5 Digital Media and Collective Action 5.1 Two Types of Collective Dilemmas 5.2 The Organization of Protests Protests as a Coordination Problem Recruitment and Mobilization 5.3 Counteracting Protests The Strategic Problem for Governments Controlling the Internet 5.4 The Social Side of Individual Decisions The Cooperation Problem Identity and Social Capital Social Effects and Networks Getting Information about Others 5.5 Digital Media as a Strategic Tool 6 Changing Organizations 6.1 New Ways of Organizing in Politics Organizing without Organizations Decentralization and Hierarchy Many Paths to Organizing, Many Modes of Organizations 6.2 How Do Organizations Adapt? Rethinking Membership Rethinking Finance Rethinking Networks 6.3 New Ways of Organizing, New Ways of Running Organizations 7 Data in Politics 7.1 Making Social Life Countable 7.2 Promises of Digital Data 7.3 Challenges of Digital Data 7.4 Extending Transparency 7.5 Manipulating Digital Metrics 7.6 Data-Driven Campaigning Creating Data Infrastructures Data-Driven Targeting Data-Driven Outreach Impact of Data-Driven Campaigning The Future of Data-Driven Campaigning 7.7 Making Politics Countable 8 Digital Media and Democracy 8.1 Democracy as Delegation Controlling Politicians Information and Democracy 8.2 Digital Media, Accountability, and Representation Monitoring Politicians Unmediated Connections Reshaping Representation The Fragility of Information Spaces Disengaged Citizens? 8.3 Deepening Democracy The Deliberative Turn Redefining Participation Participation and Inequality 8.4 Digital Solutions and Non-digital Problems 9 Digital Media in Politics 9.1 What Have We Learned? 9.2 Why Do We Keep Getting This Wrong? Go Big or Go Home Tricksters Tell Tall Tales Success Is More Interesting Than Failure The Missing Long View 9.3 Getting It Right: Putting Digital Media into Context Focus on Actors Develop Mechanisms Linking Digital Media and Politics Establish Context and Constraints 9.4 What Comes Next? 9.5 The Final Account References Index