Internet and Politics: Towards New Concepts in Political Science?

The Internet and Politics field is becoming a more established subfield. Developments in webcampaigning, online political participation, e-deliberation, and e-government have changed the way we study politics. The Internet and Politics field have also brought new methodological developments, for instance through the use of “big data” for research purposes. Previous Internet and Politics Sections at ECPR General Conferences in Potsdam (2009) and Reykjavik (2011) have shown an interest of many political scientists in this field.    Following the previous Internet and Politics sections in Potsdam and Reykjavik, this Section aims to investigate how the development of Internet studies is challenging and developing classic concepts in political science, such as “party”, “participation”, or “citizenship”. Conversely, we also want to consider how some of the main approaches within social science – such as gender studies, new institutionalism, constructivism or rational choice theory - are influencing the field of Internet and Politics.     Thus, while welcoming empirical analyses, we particularly encourage paper proposals that focus on the deeper conceptual and theoretical foundations of  Internet and Politics research. Overall we hope the section will show the relevance of Internet and Politics scholarship for addressing and understanding broader ongoing debates in the discipline and how our work can inform established fields of political enquiry .     This section is supported by the ECPR Standing Group on Internet & Politics.