Digital governance and politics
Prerequisiti
Optional for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th year students of the PhD Programme in "Political Science and Sociology"
Optional for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th year students of the PhD Programme in "Transnational Governance"
Optional for the 4th and 5th year students of the MA Programme in "Political and Social Sciences"
Programma
Session 1: 08/01/2024: 14-17 The promise of digital governance
Milakovich, Michael E. Digital Governance : Applying Advanced Technologies to Improve Public Service. Second edition., Routledge, 2022, chapter 1
Luna-Reyes, Luis Felipe. “Opportunities and Challenges for Digital Governance in a World of Digital Participation.” Information Polity, vol. 22, no. 2-3, 2017, pp. 197–205, https://doi.org/10.3233/IP-170408.
Session 2: 15/01/2024: 14-17 Artificial intelligence and democracy: risks and opportunities
Jungherr, A. (2023). Artificial Intelligence and Democracy: A Conceptual Framework. Social Media + Society, 9(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051231186353
Risse, M. (2023). Political theory of the digital age: Where artificial intelligence might take us. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009255189, chapter 3
Fuchs, C., (2021) “The Digital Commons and the Digital Public Sphere: How to Advance Digital Democracy Today”, Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture 16(1), p.9-26. doi: https://doi.org/10.16997/wpcc.917
Session 3: 22/01/2024: 14-17. Digital politics: The political contestation of digital governance
Taras, D., e R. Davis. Electoral Campaigns, Media, and the New World of Digital Politics. University of Michigan Press, 2022, introduction
Rossi, L., Righetti, N., & Marino, G. (2021). (Nearly) Ten Years of Social Media and Political Elections in Italy: Questions, Platforms, and Methods. Social Media + Society, 7(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051211063460
Vaccari, Cristian. Digital Politics in Western Democracies : a Comparative Study. John Hopkins University Press, 2014, chapter 3
Lioy, Alberto, Del Valle, Marc Esteve, and Gottlieb, Julian. ‘Platform Politics: Party Organisation in the Digital Age’. Information polity, 2019, Vol.24 (1), p.41-58
Session 4: 29/01/2024: 14-17. Platform politics: The Italian experience in the European context
Taras, D., e R. Davis. Electoral Campaigns, Media, and the New World of Digital Politics. University of Michigan Press, 2022, chapter 6
Rossi, L., Righetti, N., & Marino, G. (2021). (Nearly) Ten Years of Social Media and Political Elections in Italy: Questions, Platforms, and Methods. Social Media + Society, 7(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051211063460
Luigi Rullo & Federica Nunziata (2023) The 2022 presidential election: what happened on Facebook?, Contemporary Italian Politics, 15:3, 365-379, DOI: 10.1080/23248823.2023.2199494
Session 5: 05/02/2024 14-17Digital Citizenship
Birgit Jæger. (2021). Digital Citizenship : A Review of the Academic Literature. Der moderne Staat. Zeitschrift für Public Policy, Recht und Management, 2021, vol. 14 (1), p. 24-42
Bearden, S. (2016). What Is Digital Citizenship?. Corwin, https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483392639
Hintz, Arne, et al. Digital Citizenship in a Datafied Society. Polity, 2019., chapter 1 and conclusion
Session 6: 13/02/2024: 14-17 Digital labour
Chesta, Riccardo Emilio, Della Porta, Donatella, and Cini, Lorenzo. Labour Conflicts in the Digital Age: A Comparative Perspective. Bristol University Press, 2022, chapter 3
Cini, Lorenzo. "How algorithms are reshaping the exploitation of labour-power: insights into the process of labour invisibilization in the platform economy." Theory and Society (2023): 1-27.
Session 7: 20/92/2024: 14-16 Datafication and surveillance
Hintz, Arne, et al. Digital Citizenship in a Datafied Society. Polity, 2019., chapter 2 and 3
Milakovich, Michael E. Digital Governance : Applying Advanced Technologies to Improve Public Service. Second edition., Routledge, 2022, chapter 5
Mejias, Ulises A., and Nick Couldry. “Datafication.” Internet Policy Review, vol. 8, no. 4, 2019, pp. 1–10, https://doi.org/10.14763/2019.4.1428.
Obiettivi formativi
New information technologies such as social media platforms, algorithms, and AI have a growing impact on national and international politics. This impact is commonly researched in terms of both opportunities and malfunctioning of democratic government. In this course, we first discuss empirical evidence that supports the diagnosis of the current malaise of the media and the public sphere from the perspective of democratic representation and participation (loss of trust, political polarisation and radicalisation, echo chambers effects and surveillance capitalism). Secondly, we wish to understand how new progressive political forces and social movements reclaim democracy through creative media usages and the formation of new democratic spaces on online participation and representation. We sum up with a view on the contours and prospects of the digital public sphere and modes of securing digital democracy through new forms of internet governance.