The Digital Party: Political Organisation and Online Democracy

by Paolo Gerbaudo

Overview

From the Pirate Parties in Northern Europe to Podemos in Spain and the 5-Star Movement in Italy, from the movements behind Bernie Sanders in the United States and Jeremy Corbyn in the United Kingdom, to Jean-Luc Melenchon's presidential bid in France, the last decade has witnessed the rise of a new blueprint for political organization: the digital party.

These new political formations tap into the potential of social media to gain consensus, and use online participatory platforms to include the rank-and-file. Paolo Gerbaudo looks at the restructuring of political parties and campaigns in the time of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and big data. Drawing on interviews with key political leaders and digital organizers, he argues that the digital party is very different from the class-based “mass party” of the industrial era, and offers promising new solutions to social polarization and the failures of liberal democracy today.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780745335803
Publisher:	Pluto Press
Publication date:	04/15/2019
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Paolo Gerbaudo is lecturer in digital culture and society at King’s College London and the author of Tweets and the Streets: Social Media and Contemporary Activism, also published by Pluto Press.
 

Table of Contents

Introduction 1. Social Media Activism and the Popular Protest Wave 2. Majoritarianism Reloaded: The Mass Web and the Web People 3. User-generated Consent: Interactivity and the Promise of Direct Democracy 4. Techno-proceduralism and the Persistence of Leadership 5. New Directions for Net Politics Conclusion Notes Appendix Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

'In this refreshing, imaginative and conceptually sophisticated book, Paolo Gerbaudo takes us on a compelling journey across Europe to understand the digitally native political parties at the forefront of a profound process of organizational evolution. Gerbaudo convincingly explains the positive and negative implications of this process, and why it matters for the future of democracy' Andrew Chadwick, author of 'The Hybrid Media System: Politics and Power'

From the Publisher

Recent years have witnessed momentous change in how political parties mobilize citizens. In this refreshing, imaginative, and conceptually-sophisticated book Paolo Gerbaudo takes us on a compelling journey across Europe to understand the digitally-native parties at the forefront of a profound process of organizational evolution. Contrary to forecasts of their demise, parties are alive and kicking. But in their digital variants they behave very differently from their twentieth century forebears. This book convincingly explains the positive and negative implications of this process—and why it matters for the future of democracy.“

author of The Hybrid Media System: Politics an Andrew Chadwick

Paolo Gerbaudo shows how the internet shapes contemporary politics and vice versa. A must read for everyone interested in digital politics.”

 

Christian Fuchs

Recent years have witnessed momentous change in how political parties mobilize citizens. In this refreshing, imaginative, and conceptually-sophisticated book Paolo Gerbaudo takes us on a compelling journey across Europe to understand the digitally-native parties at the forefront of a profound process of organizational evolution. Contrary to forecasts of their demise, parties are alive and kicking. But in their digital variants they behave very differently from their twentieth century forebears. This book convincingly explains the positive and negative implications of this process—and why it matters for the future of democracy.“

Andrew Chadwick

In a historic moment when political parties are losing their capacity to represent citizens, new party models have grown and often achieved unexpected success. This book is an important contribution to the conceptualization of digital parties and the understanding of their evolution.”
 

Donatella Della Porta

With a rare mix of narrative flair and analytical insight, Gerbaudo tells the riveting story of how tech-savvy leaders and 'connected outsiders' have reshaped politics in the digital era.”

 

John Postill