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in ’the flighty world of online activism’ political engagement Fickle Commitment. Fostering copenhagen business school handelshøjskolen solbjerg plads 3 dk-2000 frederiksberg danmark www.cbs.dk Fickle Commitment. Fostering political engagement in ’the flighty world of online activism’ Julie Uldam PhD Series 35.2010 ISSN 0906-6934 ISBN 87-593-8449-7 Doctoral School of Organisation and Management Studies PhD Series 35.2010 CBS PhD nr 35-2010 Julie Uldam · A4 OMSLAG.pdf 1 16/11/10 9.53 Fickle Commitment. Fostering political engagement in ’the flighty world of online activism’ Julie Uldam Fickle Commitment. Fostering political engagement in ’the flighty world of online activism’ 1st edition 2010 PhD Series 35.2010 © The Author ISBN: 978-87-593-8449-7 ISSN: 0906-6934 The Doctoral School of Organisation and Management Studies (OMS) is an interdisciplinary research environment at Copenhagen Business School for PhD students working on theoretical and empirical themes related to the organisation and management of private, public and voluntary organisations All rights reserved. No parts of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Fickle Commitment. Fostering political engagement in ‘the flighty world of online activism’ Julie Uldam IKL Copenhagen Business School Fickle Commitment. Fostering political engagement in ‘the flighty world of online activism’ Julie Uldam Supervisors: Lilie Chouliaraki Dorte Salskov-Iversen A thesis submitted to the Department of Intercultural Communication and Management and Doctoral School of Organization and Management, Copenhagen Business School for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, September 2010. 1 Abstract In the wake of increasing disillusion with the potential of alternative online media for providing social movements with a virtual space for self-representation and visibility (Atton, 2002; Downing, 2001; Rodriguez, 2001) activists have been adopting online social media into their media practices. With their popular appeal and multimodal affordances social media such as YouTube and Facebook have reinvigorated hopes for the potential of the internet for providing social movements such as the Global Justice Movement, which is often misrepresented as a homogeneous and in a negative light in the mass media (Gamson and Wolfsfeld, 1993; Juris, 2008), with new possibilities for promoting self-representations to wider publics – beyond the echo chambers of alternative media (Cammaerts, 2007; Sunstein, 2001). In the mediation of institutional politics the increasing use of popular online spaces has brought about the term ’YouTube‐ification of Politics’ (Turnsek and Jankowski, 2008). However, two challenges remain: the first relates to fragmentation – the internet’s properties as a ‘pull-medium’ is argued to merely connect likeminded users (Cammaerts, 2007: 138). The second relates to ’lazy politics’ – the internet’s ephemeral properties are argued to facilitate brief participation in single-issue campaigns that fails to foster political engagement (Fenton, 2008a: 52). This thesis focuses on the latter. It addresses the possibilities of popular online spaces for fostering collective solidarity and political engagement in social movement organisations. It explores how these possibilities are played out in the online arena of popular sites employed by the two London-based social movement organisations: the World Development Movement (WDM) and War on Want. Drawing on the cases of WDM and War on Want, the thesis addresses three dimensions of these practices, exploring (1) rationales for using popular online spaces to promote the SMO agenda; (2) the social movement organisations’ online campaigns; and (3) members’ identifications with the campaigns through discourse analysis and interviews with SMO directors, campaign, outreach and web officers as well as SMO members. It is by analysing how SMOs use different online spaces as locations for strategic framing and the formation of political identities that we can 2 begin to study how the internet may contribute to an agonistic public sphere where also voices of dissent are heard. The thesis is based on Mouffe’s understanding of politics and the political as grounded in discourse but also based on a view of political engagement as conflictual, affective and sometimes irrational (Cammaerts, 2007; Fenton, 2009; Mouffe, 2005). Even though this does not mean that SMOs do not apply rational considerations in planning their strategic agendas for public visibility and legitimacy, it does mean that the study of these considerations need to take into account this dual character of political discourse as both rational and affective (Hajer and Versteeg, 2005). Therefore, we need to consider instrumental and affective issues to understand the relationship between strategic protest and the underlying dynamics of intragroup commitment (Griggs and Howarth, 2002; Snow et al., 1986) – the interconnections between strategy and identity, external resonance and internal commitment. In this way, the democratic potentialities of the internet can be seen as not only related to the ways in which SMOs communicate their agenda but also to potentialities for forging political identities and commitment (Fenton, 2008a). 3 Abstract in Danish Online aktivisme: om at fostre engagement i en flygtig verden I kølvandet på en stigende desillusion over alternative online mediers potentiale for at tilbyde sociale bevægelser bedre muligheder for at blive hørt i det offentlige rum (Atton, 2002; Downing, 2001; Rodriguez, 2001) har aktivistmiljøet inkorporeret sociale medier som en del af deres mediepraksis. Med deres populære udbredelse og multimodale muligheder har sociale medier såsom YouTube og Facebook skabt nyt håb for internettets potentiale til at hjælpe aktivistmiljøet, som i massemedierne ofte bliver fremstillet som en homogen gruppe og ofte i et negativt lys (Gamson and Wolfsfeld, 1993; Juris, 2008), til at formidle deres egne selv-repræsentationer til den bredere befolkning – ud over de alternative mediers ekkokamre (Cammaerts, 2007; Sunstein, 2001). I politisk kommunikation mere generelt har brugen af sociale medier ledt til ’YouTube‐ification of Politics’ (Turnsek and Jankowski, 2008). Men to udfordringer er stadig aktuelle: den ene er fragmentering – internettets egenskab som et pull-medie gælder også YouTube; og den anden er uengageret deltagelse i politisk protest – internettets mulighed for aktivisme som er glemt efter et enkelt museklik. Denne afhandling fokuserer på sidstnævnte. Den beskæftiger sig med sociale mediers muligheder for at fostre kollektiv solidaritet og engagement i græsrodsorganisationer. Den undersøger hvordan disse muligheder udspiller sig i praksis i en empirisk kontekst bestående af to case-studier af de London-baserede græsrodsorganisationer World Development Movement (WDM) og War on Want. På baggrund af de to cases beskæftiger studiet sig med tre aspekter af brugen af online sociale medier i græsrodsorganisationer: (1) ledelsens rationale for brugen af sociale medier til at promovere organisationens agenda; (2) organisationens kampagner som de forekommer på tværs af online sociale medier; og (3) medlemmers identifikationer med kampagnerne. De tre aspekter undersøges gennem en diskursanalyse af online kampagnemateriale og interviews med ledelse og medlemmer fra græsrodsorganisationerne. Det er ved at analysere, hvordan græsrodsorganisationer bruger online sociale medier som platforme for strategisk kommunikation og 4 formation af politiske identiteter at vi kan begynde at undersøge hvordan internettet kan bidrage til en offentlig sfære, hvor politisk engagement kan fostres og styrkes. Undersøgelsen tager udgangspunkt i Mouffes forståelse af politik som funderet I det diskursive men også baseret på konflikt og følelser (Cammaerts, 2007; Fenton, 2009; Mouffe, 2005). Det indebærer en forståelse af citizenship som en form for politisk identitet, der rækker ud over formelle borgerlige pligter (Mouffe, 1992; Laclau og Mouffe, 1985). I det lys er det vigtigt at tage højde for både instrumentelle og følelsesmæssige aspekter for at forstå forholdet mellem strategisk iscenesættelse af protest og de underliggende dynamikker der knytter sig til solidaritet og engagement (Griggs og Howarth, 2002; Snow et al., 1986) – forholdet mellem strategi og identitet, ekstern resonans og intern fællesskabsfølelse. Internettets demokratiske potentiale knytter sig således ikke kun til græsrodsorganisationers promovering af deres agenda men også til muligheden for at skabe politiske identiteter og engagement ud over et enkelt museklik (Fenton, 2008a). 5 Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................... 2 Abstract in Danish .......................................................................................... 4 Acknowledgements ...................................................................................... 11 List of tables and figures ............................................................................... 13 List of Acronyms and Abbreviations ............................................................. 14 1 Introduction ........................................................................................... 15 1.1 Contextualising global justice organisations and their online conditions ............