Internet and politics: an analisys of e-petition sites

Author(s)

Ana Carolina Abreu de Campos

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem
• Defense date: 2015-08-14

Examining board members

Marta Mourão Kanashiro; Rafael de Almeida Evangelista; Francisco Antunes Caminati

• Advisor: Marta Mourão Kanashiro

Abstract

The technological development of the media - especially the internet and social networks - seems to be linked to new possibilities of connections between people and between them and information. In this scenario, it is remarkable the growth of forms of political participation that are supported by the new technologies of information and communication, and which diverge from traditional models of action. The most current forms of activism are using the internet as an instrument of awareness, organization and engagement, and a platform that is showing significant are the petitions sites. This work turns to the contemporary relationship that has been established between internet and policy, and to investigate this issue, we propose an empirical study of online petitions. The methodology included the conducting interviews with the creators and representatives of four online activism platform (Avaaz, Change, Petição Pública and E-Cidadania), the study of the content of their own sites and federal legislation related to public participation in order to understand which is the role of these sites in Brazilian democracy. The theoretical approach was based especially on contemporary authors of Social Sciences who have been concerned about the relationship between social and political transformations today and the contemporary communicational paradigm as Manuel Castells (1999, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2012, 2013), Boaventura dos Santos (1999, 2012, 2014), Zygmunt Bauman (2000), Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri (2005), Tiziana Terranova (2005), Yochai Benkler (2006). This work aims to understand how the internet is part of a context of crisis and reframing concepts such as citizenship, democracy and participation and possible new models of organization and activities of citizens (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 13/08312-1 - Cyberactivism: an analysis of the petitions websites
• Grantee: Ana Carolina Abreu de Campos
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master