Communication Rights and Social Justice ― Historical Accounts of Transnational Mobilizations

Communication Rights and Social Justice offers historical perspectives on struggles to use the instruments of state and political participation - power, inter-governmental treaties and declarations, and various forms of political advocacy and protest politics - to articulate the concept of communication as a fundamental right. The contributions make up an intergenerational and multi-vocal dialogue. Different generations of scholars, activists and practitioners, who have been engaged with mobilizations at different times, present their views; some adopt a more academic style, others reflect autobiographically on personal experiences. The collection acknowledges the plural geo-cultural roots that compose what have eventually become a network of transnational mobilization dynamics that are increasingly global, digitally mediated, multi-stakeholder and faced by new and forthcoming challenges. It makes an original and welcome contribution to understanding a vital history that will only grow in worldwide importance.

Claudia Padovani is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Politics, Law and International Studies at the University of Padova, Italy. Her main areas of research concern political processes in the global context: governance, networks and innovation in world politics; civil society organizations as global actors; transnational advocacy around communication rights and media justice; the gendered dimension of communication governance; the transformative role of norms in world politics.

Andrew Calabrese is Professor of Media Studies in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Colorado, USA. His research and teaching interests pertain to communication technologies and industries; critical social and political theory (emphases: public sphere, civil society, globalization, social justice movements); US and transnational media policy.