Political Parties in the Digital Age - The Impact of New Technologies in Politics

The Internet and "social media" may initially have been understood as just one more instrument politicians could employ to manage without political parties. However, these media cannot be reduced to being a tool available solely to politicians. The electronic media make reinforcement of the "glocalization" of the public and political sphere, a process already set in motion with the advent of television, and they can develop the trend even further.

Political parties are therefore once again becoming indispensable; they are in an unparalleled position to recreate social and political bonds, for only they stand both at the center and on the periphery of the new sphere encompassing public and political life.

Table of content

New Technologies: Helping Political Parties and the Democratic Processes or Threatening Them?
Philippe Maarek & Guy Lachapelle

I. THE INTEGRATION OF TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS IN THE PRACTICES OF PARTIES AND CITIZENS
Innovations in Information Technology in American Party Politics Since 1960
Kenneth Janda

Internet, Social Media Use and Political Participation in the 2013 Parliamentary Election in Germany
Reimar Zeh & Christina Holtz-Bacha

II. THE CONSEQUENCES OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES ON ACTIVISM
The Decline of Activism in Political Parties: Adaptation Strategies and New Technologies
Eric Montigny

Party Activists and Partisan Communication in Quebec
Isabelle Gusse

III. THE NEW ROLE PLAYED BY SOCIAL NETWORKS
Changing Communications? Political Parties and Web 2.0 in the 2011 New Zealand General Election
Ashley Murchison

Social Media and American Presidential Campaigns: the Dark Side of the Electoral Process 
Karine Prémont and Charles-Antoine Millette

IV. THE RESILIENCE OF THE PRINTED PRESS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM
The United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) and the British Press: Integration, Immigration and Integrity  
David Deacon and Dominic Wring

V. NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND LEADERSHIP EVOLUTION
Political Parties and the Internet: Changes in Society, Changing Politics—The Case of the Parti Québécois
Guy Lachapelle

Political communication, electronic media and social networks in France
Philippe Maarek