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Shaping the Web of Civic Participation: Civil Society Websites in Eastern Europe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2005

LÁSZLÓ BRUSZT ,
BALÁZS VEDRES  and
DAVID STARK
LÁSZLÓ BRUSZT
Affiliation:
Social and Political Studies European University Institute
BALÁZS VEDRES
Affiliation:
Sociology Central European University
DAVID STARK
Affiliation:
Sociology Columbia University
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Abstract

To study technologies of political participation in the era of internet we examine how civic associations in Eastern Europe create socio-technical platforms of civic participation. The creation of socio-technical platforms combines specific technological features with actors and types of acts. Based on data we collected on 1,585 East European civil society websites we identify five emergent genres of online platforms of civic participation: newsletters, interactive platforms, multilingual solicitations, directories, and brochures. In contrast to the utopistic image of a de-territorialized, participatory global civil society shaped by the new technology, our examination of civil society websites finds that the transnational are not inclined to be participatory and the participatory are less likely to be transnational.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , May 2005 , pp. 149 - 163
Copyright
© 2005 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

Research for this paper was supported by NSF Grant no. 0115378 and by The Open Society Institute Information Program (Budapest). Our thanks also to the Santa Fe Institute, where Stark is a member of the External Faculty and Vedres is an International Fellow.