In the backdrop of John Keane’s monitory democracy framework, this article focuses on Italy and on an Italian Blogger, Beppe Grillo, and his namesake blog Beppegrillo.it. Italy’s representative democratic system has in the recent past shown many of those signs of the decline that Keane indicates as the foundation of a monitory democracy. Beppegrillo.it instead is a particular example of an Internet-based monitory body. The analysis of the blog’s growing impact on Italian politics can allow us to assess Keane’s claim that we are living in the era of monitory democracy; while, on the other hand, the analysis of the blog allows us to highlight the importance and the challenges that web-enhanced forms of political engagement pose to democracy.
Read MorePublished as Giovanni Navarria, ‘Beppegrillo.it, One Year in the Life of an Italian Blog 2009’, in Adrienne Russell and Nabil Echchaibi (eds.), International Blogging, Peter Lang Publishing Read the full chapter: One year in the life of beppegrillo.it In Carlo Collodi’s classic children tale, The Adventures of […]
Read MoreOriginal tittle: Towards A Twenty-first Century Society of Control, first published on OpenDemocracy.net 26 Nov. 2013 – find it here Since last June, thanks to the confidential information disclosed by Edward Snowden, a former US National Security Agency contractor turned whistle-blower, a troubling truth has come […]
Read MoreThis is a short paper I recently published in openDemocracy. Origitnal title: Malaysia After the Election: A Paradigm Shift? Malaysia’s 2013 general election has come and gone. Before 5 May, it promised to be the most exciting electoral race since the country won its independence from […]
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