Table Of Content‘Beyond the Internet addresses a challenging question of much political
communication research: to what extent the Internet and social media
determine political participation and behaviour. The temptation of tech-
nological determinism and cyber-optimism is always lurking when it
comes to explain why and how political protests have spanned through
Europe in rich new-media ecosystems. The greatest strength of this vol-
ume is the authors’ ability to provide convincing evidence that the Inter-
net’s magic is rather embedded in extra-web structures. The Internet
empowers above all those that already possess a political culture. This
book will be extremely useful not only to researchers but to practitioners
in the media and in the political system.’
—Gianpietro Mazzoleni, University of Milan, Italy
‘This is an extremely timely collection on the role of digital media and
the internet in protest movements which avoids simplistic celebrations
of technological affordances but yet gives the media proper attention.
Through well chosen empirical cases and theoretical rigour, this is essen-
tial reading for anyone trying to understand the contemporary economic
and political crises in Europe and beyond.’
—Göran Bolin, Södertörn University, Sweden
‘This good collection examines how the internet has empowered radical
opposition in Western Europe, but also takes account of the formidable
obstacles that still stand in the way of its succeeding. It is a scholarly,
level-headed but also uplifting book.’
—James Curran, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK
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Beyond the Internet
The western economic and financial crisis began with the collapse of Lehman
Brothers in 2008 and led the European Union countries into recession. After
this, governments started to implement austerity measures, such as cuts in public
spending, including public subsidies and jobs, and rising prices. In this context,
Europe started to experience a wave of protest movements. Individuals started to
use the manifold interactive digital media environment to both fight against the
austerity measures and find alternative ways of claiming their democratic rights.
Inspired by the 2011 Arab Spring and the Occupy Wall Street movement in New
York (USA), the Occupy LSX encampment in Central London (UK), The Out-
raged (Los Indignados)/15M encampment in Central Madrid (Spain), Syntagma
Square’s Outraged movement in Athens (Greece) and the March 12th Movement
in Lisbon (Portugal), although short-lived, epitomize an emerging alternative pol-
itics and participation via the media. This wave has promoted a debate on how
the realm of politics is changing, as citizens broaden their ideas of what political
issues and participation mean.
Beyond the Internet examines the technological dimension of the recent wave
of protest movements in United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Greece and Ireland.
Offering an opportunity to achieve a better understanding of the dynamics
between society, politics and technology, this volume questions the essentialist
attributes of the Internet that fuel the techno-centric discourse. The contribu-
tors illustrate how all these protest movements were active in the social media
and garnered high levels of media attention and public visibility, in spite of their
failure to achieve their political goals. As intra-elite dissent was pivotal in under-
standing the Arab uprisings, the coalition of national ruling elites with European
institutions in terms of austerity strategy is essential in understanding the limits
of media/technology power and, therefore, the dissociation between communica-
tion and representative power.
Rita Figueiras is a professor at the Faculty of Human Sciences at the Universi-
dade Católica Portuguesa and member of the board of directors of the Research
Centre for Communication and Culture (CECC). Her work focuses on media
and political communication, particularly in the areas of public opinion, pundits,
electoral campaigns and, more broadly, the relationship between the media and
democracy.
Paula do Espírito Santo is a professor at the School of Social and Political Sciences
(ISCSP)—University of Lisbon (ULisboa) and School of Police Sciences and Inter-
nal Security (ISCPSI), Portugal, and is a visiting scholar at other universities. Her
research focus is on political communication and political sociology, including
the study of political culture, party supporters and social sciences methodology.
Routledge Studies in Global Information, Politics
and Society
Edited by Kenneth Rogerson, Duke University
and Laura Roselle, Elon University
International communication encompasses everything from one-to-one
cross-cultural interactions to the global reach of a broad range of infor-
mation and communications technologies and processes. Routledge
Studies in Global Information, Politics and Society celebrates—and
embraces—this depth and breadth. To completely understand commu-
nication, it must be studied in concert with many factors, since, most
often, it is the foundational principle on which other subjects rest. This
series provides a publishing space for scholarship in the expansive, yet
intersecting, categories of communication and information processes and
other disciplines.
1 Relational, Networked and 4 Talk Show Campaigns
Collaborative Approaches to Presidential Candidates on
Public Diplomacy Daytime and Late Night
The Connective Mindshift Television
Edited by R. S. Zaharna, Amelia Michael Parkin
Arsenault, and Ali Fisher
5 The Networked Young
2 Reporting at the Southern Citizen
Borders Social Media, Political
Journalism and Public Debates Participation and Civic
on Immigration in the US and Engagement
the EU Edited by Brian D. Loader,
Edited by Giovanna Dell’Orto Ariadne Vromen, and
and Vicki L. Birchfield Michael Xenos
3 Strategic Narratives 6 Framing War
Communication Power and the Public Opinion and
New World Order Decision-Making in
Alister Miskimmon, Ben Comparative Perspective
O’Loughlin, and Laura Roselle Francesco Olmastroni
7 Political Communication and 9 Television News and
Leadership Human Rights in the
Mimetisation, Hugo Chávez US & UK
and the Construction of Power The Violations Will Not Be
and Identity Televised
Elena Block Shawna M. Brandle
8 The Power of Information 10 Beyond the Internet
Networks Unplugging the Protest
New Directions for Agenda Movement Wave
Setting Edited by Rita Figueiras
Edited by Lei Guo and and Paula do Espírito
Maxwell McCombs Santo
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Beyond the Internet
Unplugging the Protest
Movement Wave
Edited by Rita Figueiras and
Paula do Espírito Santo
First published 2016
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an
informa business
© 2016 Taylor & Francis
The right of the editors to be identified as the authors of the
editorial material, and of the authors for their individual
chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78
of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
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the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be
trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Figueiras, Rita, editor. | Espírito Santo, Paula do, editor.
Title: Beyond the Internet : unplugging the protest movement
wave / edited by Rita Figueiras and Paula do Espírito Santo.
Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2016. | Series:
Routledge studies in global information, politics and society ;
10 | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015030098 | ISBN 9781138915640 (hbk) |
ISBN 9781315690124 (ebk)
Subjects: LCSH: Mass media—Political aspects—Europe. |
Communication in politics—Europe. | Political participation—
Europe. | Protest movements—Press coverage—Europe. |
Social movements—Press coverage—Europe. | Internet—
Political aspects—Europe.
Classification: LCC P95.82.E85 B49 2016 | DDC 302.23/094—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015030098
ISBN: 978-1-138-91564-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-69012-4 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
Series Editor’s Foreword xi
KENNETH ROGERSON
Introduction 1
RITA FIGUEIRAS AND PAULA DO ESPÍRITO SANTO
1 Civic Cosmopolitanism and Political Communication: Media,
Activism, and Agency 7
PETER DAHLGREN
2 Protest Camps as Media Stages: A Case Study of Activist
Media Practices across Three British Social Movements 31
ANNA FEIGENBAUM AND PATRICK MCCURDY
3 Communication Strategies and New Political Movements
in Spain 53
ÓSCAR G. LUENGO AND JAVIER G. MARÍN
4 From the Streets and the Occupied Squares to the
Central Political Field: The Narratives of the Anti-Austerity
Camp in Greece 76
NIKOS SOTIRAKOPOULOS AND OLGA NTALAKA
5 Social Media and Political Participation: The Portuguese
Indignados Case 99
JOÃO CARLOS CORREIA
6 Unmasking the “Quiet Man”: Exploring Ireland’s
Quiescent Response to Economic Crisis and Austerity 123
GEMMA CARNEY AND KATY HAYWARD
Unplugging the Protest Movement Wave 141
RITA FIGUEIRAS AND PAULA DO ESPÍRITO SANTO
Notes on Contributors 151
Index 153
