Internet and International Politics: Comparing Opportunities and Rising Challenges

Abstract

The consolidation of worldwide Internet practices calls for research looking at the influence that this scenario has on politics from a comparative and transnational perspective of analysis. We can observe a growing scholarly interest in how the Internet is increasingly influencing International Politics, especially by empowering local actors in the development of and the coordination around contentious issues – both locally and internationally. Recent key international events have illustrated this empirically. The recent streams of protests challenging authoritarian regimes have generated interest in the potentialities of the Internet in transition countries. Furthermore, new tools have been developed to support the rising of local voices and to connect these to a global audience. Within this framework, the debate on the opportunities offered by the Internet to protect Human Rights is rich of contributions addressing new opportunities and new challenges. However, despite a general agreement that the Internet influences International Politics along this line, further effort is demanded to clarify the nature and dynamics of such an influence. This panel calls for papers addressing novel research and empirical cases that capture the influence of the Internet on International Politics, as well as comparative research strategies exploring the use of internet-mediated communication across countries and political systems. The goal is to establish clear lines of dialogues between empirical research and innovative methodological approaches to new media and International Politics, with a main focus on contentious politics.

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