Digital Parties Network
Digital Parties Research Network
About the project
This network’s aim is to analyse political parties in digital age. The main overarching questions are to what extent is there such thing as “digital parties” and if so, what is it and how does it differ from other parties. Furthermore, the degree of (organisational) transformation (or lack of it) of parties in the digital age is a focus of the network.
Find out more:
Structure
The network currently consists of about 40 scholars covering almost 20 countries both in EU and beyond. It brings together researchers with diverse backgrounds in terms of origin, career and expertise in fields including party studies, elections, law, regulations, communication and ICTs. The Digital Parties Network also collaborates with civil society actors such as Transparency International.
Aims: Publication for academics and practitioners, work with parties, voters, state agencies and civil society actors.
Organisation and Members
The network and its activities is coordinated by two co-chairs and a steering committee.
Chairs
Giulia Sandri, Université Catholique de Lille, Giulia.SANDRI(at)univ-catholille.fr
Michał Jacuński, University of Wroclaw, michal.jacunski(at)uwr.edu.pl
Steering Comittee
Isabelle Borucki, Universität Duisburg-Essen, isabelle.borucki(at)uni-due.de
Oscar Barberà, Universitat de València, o.barbera(at)uv.es
Jasmin Fitzpatrick, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, fitzpatrick(at)politik.uni-mainz.de
Felix von Nostitz, Université Catholique de Lille, Felix.Vonnostitz(at)univ-catholille.fr
Members
Ioannis Andreadis (Aristotle University Thessaloniki, Greece)
Joan Balcells (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Spain)
Oscar Barberà (Universitat de València, Spain)
Melani Barlai (Andrassy University Budapest, Hungary)
Márton Bene (Centre for Social Sciences, Hungary)
Cecilia Biancalana (Université de Lausanne, Switzerland)
Rosa Borge (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Spain)
Isabelle Borucki (Universität Duisburg-Essen, Germany)
Giorgos Charalambous (University of Nicosia, Cyprus)
Boyu Chen (University of Niigata Prefecture, Japan)
Patricia Correa (Aston University, UK)
Régis Dandoy (Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador)
Alberto Díaz Montiel (University of Granada, Spain)
Kate Dommett (University of Sheffield, UK)
David Duenas-Cid (Kozminski University, Poland)
David Farrell (University College Dublin, Ireland)
Jasmin Fitzpatrick (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Germany)
Nikolai Gad (Bavarian School of Public Policy, Germany)
Sergiu Gherghina (University of Glasgow, UK)
Rachel Gibson (University of Manchester, UK)
Marijana Grbeša (University of Zagreb, Croatia)
Fabienne Greffet (University of Lorraine, France)
Marco Guglielmo (University of Birmingham, UK)
Sharon Haleva-Amir (Bar Ilan University, Israel)
Florian Hartleb ( Catholic University Eichstätt/ University for Police Saxony-Anhalt/ Hanse Advice, Germany)
Emilie van Haute (Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium)
Alexandra Iancu (University of Bucharest, Romania)
Johanna Jaasaari (University of Helsinki, Finland)
Michał Jacuński (University of Wroclaw, Poland)
Glenn Kefford (University of Queensland, Australia)
Robert Krimmer (University of Tartu, Estonia)
Marco Lisi (Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal)
Fabio Lupato (University Complutense of Madrid, Spain)
Marco Meloni (University of Coimbra/ Complutense University of Madrid, Spain)
Bálint Mikola (Transparency International Hungary)
Lluis de Nadal Alsina (University of Glasgow, United Kingdom)
Iva Nenadic (University of Zagreb, Croatia)
Felix von Nostitz (Université Catholique de Lille, France)
Dániel Oross, (Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary)
Albert Padró-Solanet (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Spain)
Juan Rodríguez Teruel (Universitat de València, Spain)
Giulia Sandri (Université Catholique de Lille, France)
Daniel Šárovec (Charles University, Czechia)
Sorina Cristina Soare (University of Florence, Italy)
Valeria Tarditi (University of Calabria, Italy)
Gefion Thuermer (King’s College London, UK)
Ramón Villaplana Jiménez (University of Murcia, Spain)
Davide Vittori (Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium)
Working Groups
The Digital Parties Network is structured around 5 Work Packages.
WG Participation
This WG aims to explore the impact of digitalisation on political participation both within parties (IPD) and more widely. It develops a systematic and comparative approach to study how party organisational digitalisation impacts (or not) the participation by party members and supporters. More specifically it looks at which digital participatory tools are used by different parties, in which contexts and who participates online, how and their attitude towards these new digital possibilities.
WG Communication
This group is looking at internal and external web-based communication processes of parties. Perspectives include case studies, however, the focus is on comparisons: party families, regions, new vs. established parties etc. The aim is to identify different stages and types in adaptation of web-based technologies.
WG Finance
The Finance WG looks the impact digitalization has on party financing such as changes in the origin of financial resources and increase or reduction of costs of party activities. In particular it aims to outline how digital technologies opened new scenarios for parties’ in terms of online fundraising, spending (online platforms, campaigning, communication and staff) and investing. It also ask what are the effects of digital financing on equilibria between public and private funding, transparency and corruption.
WG Organization
This WG aims at monitoring the effects of digitalization focusing on two main aspects: (1) the digital staff and the management of digital crowds within parties and (2) the decision-making process transformations linked with digitalization. The aim is to identify patterns of parties that might develop in the EU in the upcoming years, and whether this might reinforce or threaten the European democracy, as a political system and as a set of values.
WG Mapping Party Digitalization
In cooperation with the other WGs this group aims to develop a common framework to map digitalisation across different dimensions that impact directly on party functions, including organization and IPD, internal and external communication, participation and finance. It aims to address the current lack of a shared theoretical definition and cross-national comparisons in many of the current studies on party digitalization.
Moreover, we also aim to study the digitalisation of different aspect of the party: in public office, in central office and on the ground. Further, we ask how digitalisation impacts key democratic dimensions such as participation, representation, competitiveness, accountability and transparency. In order to do so, we are developing a common framework to explore the aspects above in comparative manner. Moreover, we also look at individual “best” (Estonia, Switzerland) and “worse” (M5S, UMP Paris) paratactic case studies.
Resources
Publications
De Nadal, L. (2022). “The Digital Party and the Case of Podemos: Flash in the Pan or Inescapable Destiny?.” In Eder-Ramsauer, A. et al. (Hg.): Populism, Protest, and New Forms of Political Organisation. 20-37.
Fitzpatrick, J. & Jöst, P. (2022). “The High Mass of Democracy” —Why Germany Remains Aloof to the Idea of Electronic Voting. Front. Polit. Sci. 4:876476. doi: 10.3389/fpos.2022.876476
Neihouser, M., Sandri, G., Von Nostitz, F., & Haute, T. (2022). Political information consumption and electoral turnout during COVID: the case of the 2020 municipal elections. French Politics, 20(2), 182-209.
García Lupato, F., & Meloni, M. (2021). Digital intra-party Democracy: An exploratory analysis of Podemos and the Labour Party. Parliamentary Affairs. https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsab015
Haleva-Amir, S. (2021). Cross-platform analysis OF PLCs’ (parties, Leaders, Candidates) social media presence IN Israel’s 2015 electoral campaign. Israel Affairs, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/13537121.2021.1940563
Hartleb, Florian (2021). Materalizations of Populism in Today´s politics: Global Perspectives, in: Barbara Christophe/Heike Liebau/Christoph Kohl/Achim Saupe (eds.): The Politics of Authenticity and Populist Discourses, Media and Education in Brazil, India and Ukraine, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 31-52.
Jacuński, M., Brodzińska-Mirowska B., Pacześniak, A., & Wincławska, M. (2021). Party Organization and Communication in Poland. Cham, Palgrave Macmillan
Kefford, G. (2021). Political Parties and Campaigning in Australia: Data, Digital and Field. Palgrave.
Oross, D., & Tap, P. (2021). Moving online: Political parties and the internal use of digital tools in Hungary. European Societies, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616696.2021.1943485
Barrio, A. (2020): «La fatiga de los partidos. Digitalizados, diversificados, ¿democratizados? Cómo se están adaptando los partidos al cambio político», Nueva Revista de Política, Cultura y Arte, No. 172, 112-129
Balcells, J., & Padró-Solanet, A. (2020). Crossing Lines in the Twitter Debate on Catalonia’s Independence. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 25(1), 28–52. https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161219858687
Barberà, O., Rodríguez-Teruel, J. (2020).The PSOE’s deliberation and democratic innovations in turbulent times for the social democracy. Eur Polit Sci 19, 212–221. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41304-019-00236-y
Borucki, I. (2020). Social media monitoring. In D. Merskin (Ed.), The SAGE international encyclopedia of mass media and society (Vol. 1, pp. 1606-1608). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi: 10.4135/9781483375519.n621
Charalambous, G. (2020). ‘Reclaiming Radicalism: Discursive Wars and the Left’, tripleC, 19 (1): 212-230.
Čular, G. & Grbeša, M. (2020). Croatia. In V. Hloušek & P. Kaniok (Eds.) The European Parliament Election of 2019 in East-Central Europe Second-Order Euroscepticism (pp. 39-60). Palgrave.
Dommett, K., Temple, L. and Seyd, P. (2020) ‘Dynamics of Intra-Party Organisation in the Digital Age: A Grassroots Analysis of Digital Adoption’, Parliamentary Affairs, https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsaa007
Duenas-Cid, D., Krivonosova, I., Serrano, R. A., Freire, M., & Krimmer, R. (2020). Tripped at the Finishing Line: The Åland Islands Internet Voting Project. In R. Krimmer, M. Volkamer, B. Beckert, R. Küsters, O. Kulyk, D. Duenas-Cid, & M. Solvak (Eds.), International Joint Conference on Electronic Voting E-Vote-ID 2020 (pp. 36–49). Bregenz: Springer LNCS.
Farkas, X., & Bene, M. (2020). Images, Politicians, and Social Media: Patterns and Effects of Politicians’ Image-based Political Communication Strategies on Social Media. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 1940161220959553.
García Lupato, F. & Meloni, M. (2020). Digital Intra-Party Democracy: an exploratory analysis of Podemos and the Labour Party. R&R for Parliamentary Affairs.
Gibson, R.K., (2020). When the Nerds Go Marching in: How Digital Technology Moved from the Margins to the Mainstream of Political Campaigns. Oxford University Press.
Iancu, A. (2020). «Party Membership in Romania: political legitimacy, party finance and organizational changes”, (cu S. Soare), Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review, 56(3): 315-341 DOI: 10.13060/csr.2020.020
Krimmer, R., Duenas-Cid, D., & Krivonosova, I. (2020b). New methodology for calculating cost-efficiency of different ways of voting: is internet voting cheaper? Public Money and Management, 0(0), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540962.2020.1732027
Nenadić, I. (2020). Power without responsibility: the content moderation policies of the online platforms in the response to infodemic. Anali Hrvatskog politološkog društva, 17(1): 79-101. DOI: 10.20901/an.17.04
Raniolo F. and Tarditi V. (2020), Digital Revolution and Party Innovations: An analysis of the Spanish Case, «Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica», Vol. 50(2), pp. 235-253, first online 18 settembre 2019, ISSN: 0048-8402, doi: 10.1017/ipo.2019.27
Sandri G. and Seddone A. (2020) Primary elections and party grassroots: participation, innovation and resistance, European Political Science, Online first publication, June 2020, https://doi.org/10.1057/s41304-020-00268-9
Tarditi V. and Vittori D. (2020), ‘We are Different’: do Anti-establishment Parties Promote Distinctive Elites? An Analysis of the Spanish Case, in «Representation», DOI: 10.1080/00344893.2020.1785535.
Wincławska M., Pacześniak A., Brodzińska-Mirowska, B. & Jacuński, M. (2020). Party Management from the Perspective of Party Members: Evidence from Poland, Problems of Post-Communism, DOI: 10.1080/10758216.2020.1757466
Ala-Fossi, M. & Alén-Savikko, A. & Hilden, J. & Horowitz, M. A. & Jääsaari, J. & Karppinen, K. & Lehtisaari, K. & Nieminen, H. (2019). Operationalising communication rights: the case of a “digital welfare state”. Internet Policy Review, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.14763/2019.1.1389
Borge Bravo, R., Balcells, J., & Padró-Solanet, A. (2019). Platform Politics in Europe | A Model for the Analysis of Online Citizen Deliberation: Barcelona Case Study. International Journal of Communication, 13(0), 25.
Šárovec, D. (2019). Assured Newcomers on a Squally Sea? The Czech Pirate Party before and after the 2017 Elections. Acta FF, 11(2), 1-21. doi:10.24132/actaff.2019.11.2.1
Vittori, D. (2019). Membership and members’ participation in new digital parties: bring back the people? Comparative European Politics. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41295-019-00201-5.
Bene, M. (2018). Post shared, vote shared: Investigating the link between Facebook performance and electoral success during the Hungarian general election campaign of 2014. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 95(2), 363-380.
Biancalana, C. (eds.) (2018). Disintermediazione e nuove forme di mediazione. Verso una democrazia post-rappresentativa?, Milano, Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli.
Chen, B. (2018). When elections become social movements: Emerging “citizen-initiated” campaigning in Taiwan. In Internet Election Campaigns in the United States, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan (pp. 165-188). Palgrave Macmillan
Fitzpatrick, J. (2018). Digital Civil Society. Wie zivilgesellschaftliche Organisationen im Web 2.0 politische Ziele verfolgen. Wiesbaden: Springer VS doi: 10.1007/978-3-658-21433-3
Greffet, F., Wojcik, S. (2018), “Une participation politique renouvelée. L’invention de modes individualisés et critiques d’engagement numérique en campagne électorale”, Quaderni, n°97, p107-125.
Lisi, M. (2018). «Party innovation, hybridisation and the crisis: The case of Podemos». Italian Political Science Review/Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica 49, n. 3: 245–62. https://doi.org/doi:10.1017/ipo.2018.20.
Meloni, M., Allegretti, G., & Antunes, S. (2018). “Participlaying: a reflection on gamification techniques from the standpoint of participatory budgeting”. In Dias, N. (ed.) Hope for Democracy – 30 Years of Participatory Budgeting Worldwide. Faro: Epopeia Records & Oficina.
Greffet, F., Wojcik, S. (2017), “Exploring Online Participation: The Case of the French Presidential Election Campaign, 2012″; Comunicazione Politica, 2017/1, p. 3-30.
Kosiara-Pedersen K., Scarrow S., van Haute E. (2017), “Rules of Engagement? Party Membership Costs, New Forms of Party Affiliation, and Partisan Participation”, in Scarrow S., Webb P., Poguntke Th. (eds), Organising Representation: Political Parties, Participation, and Power, Oxford, Oxford University Press
Montesanti L. e Tarditi V. (2017), Fenomenologia di due nuovi partiti: i casi del Movimento cinque stelle e di Podemos, in «Polis», n. 2, pp. 261-292, ISSN 1120-9488.
Korenčić, D., Grbeša, M. & Šnajder, J. (2016). Topics and their salience in the 2015 parliamentary election in Croatia: A topic model based analysis of the media agenda. In D. Širinić, J. Šnajder, Z. Fazekas & Sh. Bevan (Eds.) Proceedings of the International Conference on the Advances in Computational Analysis of Political Text (pp. 48–54). PolText.
Liao, D. C., Chen, B., Jensen, M. J., & Pritchard, C. W. (Eds.). (2016). Political behavior and technology: Voting advice applications in East Asia. Springer.
Jääsaari, Johanna & Hildén, Jockum. (2015). From File Sharing to Free Culture: The Evolving Agenda of European Pirate Parties. International Journal of Communication 9, 870-889.
Barlai, M. (2013). Young, Hungarian, Ill-tempered Right-Wing Extremism within Hungary’s” Generation Facebook”, Osteuropa, 63(11),87-95.
Hartleb, Florian (2013). Anti-elitist cyber parties? Understanding the future of European party politics. Journal of Public Affairs, 13:4, pp. 355-369.
Mahrer, H., Krimmer, R. (2005): Towards the enhancement of e‐democracy: identifying the notion of the ‘middleman paradox’ Information Systems Journal 15 (1), 27-42.
Member's projects (examples)
Kate Dommet (University of Sheffield, UK):
-‘Understanding Online Political Advertising: Perceptions, Uses and Regulation’ – Leverhulme Trust – 3 year project 2021-2023 looking at the use of OPA in the UK. National focus, UK based collaborators in different disciplines
-‘‘Data-driven campaigns: intended and unintended consequences for democracy [DATADRIVEN]’, ‘Norface Democratic Governance in a Turbulent Age, 3 years 2021-2023. Looking at use of data in election campaigns. Collaborative project with Rachel Gibson, Sanne Kruikeimer and Sophie Lecheler
Jasmin Fitzpatrick (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Germany):
-DFG Application for Villa Vigoni Talks 2022: Philosophies of Digitalization of Political Parties in Italy and Germany after the COVID19 pandemic (submitted; Co-Applicants Valeria Tarditi and Davide Vittori; decision expected in autumn 2021)
Rosa Borge (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Spain):
-R+D Project “Deliberation … Spanish Ministery of Science and Education ongoing project (2020-2022) with Joan Balcells, Albert Padró-Solanet i Oscar Barberà.
Krimmer Robert Krimmer (University of Tartu, Estonia):
-‘Representation and Democratic Resentment’ – funded by the FNRS-FWO Excellence of Science. Partners: ULB, UA (PI), VUB, KULeuven, UCL.
Oscar Barberà (Universitat de València, Spain):
– “AICO Project on Digitalization of political parties”-Funded by the Valencian Regional Government (2020-2021) with Borucki, Fitzpatrick, Sandri, Barrat, Correa, von Nostitz, Vittori, Biancalana, Borge, Balcells
Márton Bene (Centre for Social Sciences, Hungary):
-“Networked locality: A multimethod approach to investigate the role of social media in local politics” – 2020 – 2024, NKFIH funding
-“COMPACT: A comparative approach to investigate strategic social media activity during political campaigns” – 2020 – 2022 TK Incubator funding
-“Political information consumption and activity on social media” – 2020 – 2023, Bolyai János scholarship
Giorgos Charalambous (University of Nicosia, Cyprus):
– Project title: ‘Mobile citizenship, states of exception and (non)border regimes in post-Covid19 Cyprus’
– Project Grant, Awarded for the 2nd Call of the Hellenic Observatory, LSE, A. Leventis Foundation Research Innovation Programme on Cyprus
Patricia Correa (Aston University, UK):
-Co-investigator in a project on party digitalization coordinated by O. Barbera (PI) at the University of Valencia (funded by the Valencian regional government).
Iva Nenadic (University of Zagreb, Croatia):
-member of the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) at the European University Institute funded by the European Commission
Rachel Gibson (University of Manchester, UK):
-ERC Advanced Investigator Grant, Digital Campaigning and Electoral Democracy (DiCED) 2020-2025,
Joan Balcells (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Spain):
-“The new online public sphere in the deliberative system: political deliberation on Twitter and political parties’ platforms in Spain” (ONPARTDEL)
Giulia Sandri (Université catholique de Lille, France):
-Co-investigator in a project on party digitalization coordinated by O. Barbera (PI) at the University of Valencia (funded by the Valencian regional government).
Work Packages
Events
The initial idea for this network first emerged during the workshop on “Cyber parties: New parties, ICTs and organization in the digital age” at the University of Valencia in December 2018. This lead to a first panel covering the theme of this research network at the ECPR general conference 2019. Other events such as the Duisburg Workshops (2019, 2020) and more panels at ECPR general conference 2020 followed. For 2021 members of the Digital Parties Network are involved as organisers and/or presenters at IPSA conference 2021 (Panel) and ECPR General Conference 2021 (Section and Panels). Further members of the network organised panels at national conference such as Jasmin Fitzpatrick (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Germany with Manès Weisskircher) at the DVPW-Congress 2021.
Upcoming events
- 15-19 July 2023: 27th IPSA World Congress (Buenos Aires, Argentina) – panel submission closing on 20/09/2022.
Past events
- 22-26 August 2022: ECPR General Conference 2022 – The ECPR General Conference 2022 was held in Innsbruck at the end August. Network members were involved in a section chaired by Giulia Sandri and Sergiu Gherghina on “Political Parties Online and Offline: Opportunities and Challenges“. Eight panels covered different dimensions of digitalization processes. The section was a huge success involving many scholars in an intense debate. We would like to thank everyone involved – panel chairs, discussants and paper presenters for their contribution.
- 5-7 July 2022: Association Française de Science Politique (AFSP) Congress – the DPRN members also organised a panel at the 2022 congress of the French Political Science Association: Panel 44 ‘When democracy gets digital. Web & social media in electoral processes’, in Sciences-Po Lille, panel organised by Marie Neihouser and Fabienne Greffet.
- 19 May 2022: Digital Workshop on Digital Parties (Springer Nature, 2021) – the first major joint publication, Digital Parties (Springer Nature, 2021), was the center of attention in a digital book launch event in November last year (Thank you to Patricia Correa and Giulia Sandri). On May 19th, 2022, a digital workshop (Universidad Andrés Bello; comment by Karina Kosiara-Pedersen) was created around the book and generated further interest in the book as such and our joint research topic. If you missed it, you can watch it on YouTube!
- 30 August – 3 September 2021: ECPR General Conference 2021, Virtual Event – “Internet and the Quality of Democracy” – chaired by Régis Dandoy (Université Libre de Bruxelles) and Giulia Sandri (Université Catholique de Lille)
Newsletters
Contact us
If you have any questions or want to join the network, please contact one of the two chairs:
- Giulia Sandri, Université Catholique de Lille, Giulia.SANDRI(at)univ-catholille.fr
- Michał Jacuński, University of Wroclaw, michal.jacunski(at)uwr.edu.pl