International relations - rubric Raiders

Abstract: The new media transform the traditional model of communication, they erase the difference between inter-personal and mass communications, they present themselves as results of a large amount of personal initiative, they provide for the phenomenon of network activism and form new political movements. Social networks and blogs serve as new types of new media, and they become instruments for political protests and revolutions The social networks attract attention of the society to the topical issues, they become channels for the digital diplomacy and the platforms for the recruiting new members of extremist organizations, they are used in election campaign, they divide audience into “us” vs. “them”, they undermine or support cultural and political unity of a state. Blogs allow to gain alternative information on political events, they break the monopoly of traditional mass media, they bring together the people with similar views and positions, they allow the working groups to have dialogue with the government, they concentrate intellectual and creative capital, they polarize information and political area, and they can also be used in order to pressure political opponents. The shortcomings of the new media as instruments for the political transformation include their formation around the weak social connections and badly organized social groups, the possibility for manipulation by well-organized political actors, which may aim at democratic changes or provoke revolutionary or protest actions in order to form manageable chaos in a state.