People, Platforms and Power: Social Media and the New Politics of Democratic Participation

Social Media has changed how people participate in Politics. It has altered how citizens access political information, from opinions, mobilise and interact with political leaders. New arenas of political communication have created new opportunities for political participation and have also generated new challenges for democratic governance. This panel examines the rise of Digital Populism and its implications for Democratic Participation. It explores How Political Actors use Social media to personalise Political Communication, the growing role of Political Influencers and Platform Driven Political Campaigning in shaping Political Identities and opinions. The panel also invites a critical examination of the Algorithmic Structure of the New Public Sphere, wherein algorithms amplify as well as marginalise digital political communication. The contributions may use a comparative, theoretical, empirical or case study approaches to explore how these digitally mediated movements move beyond online platforms to influence public policies and broader democratic discourse. The panel seeks to bring together real experiences from different regions and political systems to identify emerging global trends, compare divergent trajectories and assess whether the new digital public sphere is producing more participatory democracies or new forms of political manipulation and democratic uncertainty.

GL10 Rethinking Political Participation: The panel looks beyond conventional forms of participation to examine new, digitally mediated forms of participation. It seeks to explore whether these emerging forms are deepening political participation or creating new uncertainties about representation, deliberation and political power.