TY - JOUR

T1 - Online Public Sphere in Russia and Its Role In The Movement “For Fair Elections”

AU - Litvinenko, A.

PY - 2012

Y1 - 2012

N2 - This article examines the evolution of the online public sphere in Russia and its democratic potential, which was several years ago considered as ‘failed’ (Oates, 2008; Fossato, 2008). However the formation of the protest movement “For fair elections” in the Internet in December 2011, that managed a spill-over from online into offline public sphere, has shown that the RuNet was underestimated. The author argues that the democratic potential of the Russian Web has undergone rapid development, not only due to the political conjuncture, but also because of the emergence of a new generation of young “digital natives” coming into political activism. The author also analyses specific features of the online social mobilization in Russia and makes conclusions about the perspectives of deliberative discourse within the Russian web.

AB - This article examines the evolution of the online public sphere in Russia and its democratic potential, which was several years ago considered as ‘failed’ (Oates, 2008; Fossato, 2008). However the formation of the protest movement “For fair elections” in the Internet in December 2011, that managed a spill-over from online into offline public sphere, has shown that the RuNet was underestimated. The author argues that the democratic potential of the Russian Web has undergone rapid development, not only due to the political conjuncture, but also because of the emergence of a new generation of young “digital natives” coming into political activism. The author also analyses specific features of the online social mobilization in Russia and makes conclusions about the perspectives of deliberative discourse within the Russian web.

KW - digital public sphere

KW - Russia

KW - social media

M3 - Article

SP - 130

EP - 134

JO - VLAAMS MARXISTISCH TIJDSCHRIFT

JF - VLAAMS MARXISTISCH TIJDSCHRIFT

SN - 2032-5363

IS - 1

ER -