Constituency Communication in Changing Times

This volume employs a comparative approach to cast light on representation and representative processes from a communications perspective. It focuses on online constituency communication, aiming to provide a perspective from which to empirically study the changes taking place in the relationship between citizens and their representatives. The (hyper)mediatisation of politics and society is here considered a relevant enabling factor, because it creates the conditions leading to change in the nature of democratic processes. The chapters discuss Podemos, the Lega, Law and Justice, and the Five-star Movement as good examples of this phenomenon. Populist and nationalist forces have emerged as bottom-up and top-down entities aiming to embody the will of the people, or to push for democratic processes to be more inclusive. Until now, however, the intersection between populist and nationalist discourses and the related question of representation have been largely ignored. By analysing the transformations that have taken place in MPs’ communication practices in non-election periods, the contributors illuminate how social media is affecting MPs’ communication and examine the strains in the relationship between executives and legislatures that populist and nationalist parties exploit. Luigi Ceccarini is Professor of Politics and Head of the School of Political and Social Studies at the University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Italy. He is Researcher at LaPolis and Demos&Pi, and co-editor of the journal ComPol, Comunicazione Politica Rosanna De Rosa is Professor of Political Communication at the University of Naples Federico II, Italy. Her research interests lie at the intersection of digital technologies and politics, including online participation and democratic practices. She is also a member of the editorial board of the journal ComPol, Comunicazione Politica. James L. Newell is former Professor of Politics at the University of Salford, UK, and is currently Visiting Researcher at the University of Urbino, Italy. He co-edits the journal, Contemporary Italian Politics, together with Maurizio Carbone of the University of Glasgow.