CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2010
| Author | Aldashov, Andrey Aleksandrovich |
|---|---|
| Title | THE ROLE OF THE INTERNET IN THE MOBILIZATION OF GRASSROOTS SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: ANALYSIS OF THE RUSSIAN CASE |
| Summary | There are a great number of opinions – varying from too optimistic to very skeptical – about the role of the Internet in the stimulating of citizen participation and the promotion of participatory democracy. In this research, an attempt is made to explain the role of the Internet in the mobilization of grassroots social movements, one of the most important forms of citizen participation. Based on the theoretical concepts of social movements, the impact of the Internet on the formation of community ties and its role as an independent and alternative source of information have been analyzed. The same analytical approach is applied in the case of the Russian Internet. Although both analyses show that the Internet itself does not really increase citizen participation and does not stimulate development of grassroots movements, it still has a great mobilization power, which can be used for building of community of well-informed citizens that can serve as a basis for different forms of participatory democracy. |
| Supervisor | Catherine Coyer |
| Department | Public Policy MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2010/aldashov_andrey.pdf |
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