Digital technologies have reshaped how political parties organize, mobilize, and relate to citizens, generating both new opportunities for inclusion and new forms of exclusion. This panel examines the digital transformation of party politics, with attention to how digital tools reconfigure processes of belonging and agency both within parties and in their relationship to the broader electorate. We understand digital inclusion and exclusion not as separate from questions of belonging and agency, but as constitutive of them: who is able to participate meaningfully in party life and democratic processes, and who is systematically left at the margins.
The panel focuses in particular on internal and external dimensions of political organizations. Internally, digital platforms have altered how parties recruit members, structure participation, and manage internal deliberation, raising questions about who gains meaningful voice within party organizations and who remains marginal despite formal inclusion. Externally, parties increasingly rely on digital channels to communicate with voters, build coalitions, and compete for public attention, reshaping the boundary between online and offline political arenas. These dynamics are particularly salient for populist actors, who have often exploited digital platforms to bypass traditional intermediaries, as well as for emerging forms of synthetic politics, including AI-generated content and synthetic candidates, which raise new questions about authenticity, representation, and agency in digital political communication.
These transformations intersect with broader concerns about democratic backsliding. The panel welcomes contributions addressing how digital politics affects electoral integrity, including the spread of disinformation and the erosion of trust in electoral processes; how digital tools shape patterns of political participation, potentially deepening rather than resolving existing inequalities; how online dynamics contribute to affective and ideological polarization; and how these processes affect citizens' broader trust in parties and democratic institutions.
The panel welcomes theoretical and empirical papers, comparative and single-case studies, employing quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods, with no specific geographical focus. Contributions addressing established and new parties, populist and non-populist actors, and varying institutional and regime contexts are particularly welcome. Papers will be selected in accordance with IPSA's policies on gender equality and the inclusion of young researchers.