Beyond the Internet ─ Unplugging the Protest Movement Wave

The western economic and financial crisis began with the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008 and led the European Union countries into recession. After this, governments started to implement austerity measures, such as cuts in public spending, including public subsidies and jobs, and rising prices. In this context, Europe started to experience a wave of protest movements. Individuals started to use the manifold interactive digital media environment to both fight against the austerity measures and find alternative ways of claiming their democratic rights. Inspired by the 2011 Arab Spring and the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York (USA), the Occupy LSX encampment in Central London (UK), The Outraged (Los Indignados)/ 15M encampment in Central Madrid (Spain), the Syntagma Square’s Outraged movement in Athens (Greece) and the March 12th Movement in Lisbon (Portugal), although short-lived, epitomize an emerging alternative politics and participation via the media. This wave has promoted a debate on how the realm of politics is changing, as citizens broaden their ideas of what political issues and participation mean.

Beyond the Internet examines the technological dimension of the recent wave of protest movements in United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Ireland. Offering an opportunity to achieve a better understanding of the dynamics between society, politics and technology, this volume questions the essentialist attributes of the Internet that fuel the techno-centric discourse. The contributors illustrate how the Internet has helped empower these protest movements and link them all together however the internet has not had the power to overcome the extranet inequalities and democratic deficits that each country faced on its own terms. The realm of politics is undoubtedly changing, as citizens broaden their ideas of what political issues and participation mean. However, as the Internet offers vast new horizons, it does not necessarily change the way people think and act in regard to politics.

Paula do Espirito Santo is a professor at the School of Social and Political Sciences (ISCSP) - Technical University of Lisbon (UTL) and School of Police Sciences and Internal Security (ISCPSI), Portugal, and is a visiting scholar at other universities. Her research focus is on political communication and political sociology, including the study of political culture, party supporters and social sciences methodology. She was responsible for conducting theWorld Values Survey in Portugal (2010-2012) and has conducted and participated in other projects at national and international level.

Rita Figueiras is a professor at the Human Sciences Faculty at the Catholic University of Portugal and member of the board of the Research Centre for Communication and Culture (CECC). Her work focuses on journalism and political communication, particularly in the areas of public opinion, pundits, electoral campaigns, and, more broadly, the relationship between the media and democracy. Along with journal articles and book chapters, she has published several books. Her most recent publication is "New Global Flows of Capital in Media Industries after the 2008 Financial Crisis: The Angola–Portugal Relationship", inThe International Journal of Press/Politics (2013).