Participation in Times of War: The Ambivalence of Digital Media
Do digital media support or undermine democracy and freedom? Building on recent scholarship that highlights the diversity of digital media’s effects, this article begins with the premise that digital media do not clearly shape political life in contemporary societies one way or another but are inste...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cogitatio
2025-02-01
|
| Series: | Social Inclusion |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/9128 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1850250924403982336 |
|---|---|
| author | Olga Zvonareva |
| author_facet | Olga Zvonareva |
| author_sort | Olga Zvonareva |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Do digital media support or undermine democracy and freedom? Building on recent scholarship that highlights the diversity of digital media’s effects, this article begins with the premise that digital media do not clearly shape political life in contemporary societies one way or another but are instead ambivalent. The article seeks to explicate how exactly the ambivalence of digital media emerges and to arrive at a suitable conceptualisation of their role. Empirically, to capture how digital media become embroiled in very different kinds of political action, I draw on a prolonged ethnographic engagement with two war‐time volunteer initiatives in Russia. Both initiatives participate in politics by assisting Ukrainian war refugees who fled in the direction of Russia, and both rely on the messaging app Telegram. However, the participation of one amounts to resisting the imperative of supporting the aggression foisted by the state on Russian citizens, while the participation of another heightens this very imperative. I engage with these two contrasting digitally mediated initiatives doing similar activities but acting on vastly different commitments to illuminate the digital media’s ambivalence. I show how digital media contribute to the creation of and cracking down on democratic openings by becoming actors in the collective action networks that strive to resist oppressive political strategies and, simultaneously, in the networks that strive to further strengthen the very same strategies. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-cb522de9af774946b32ac5a6784c9abc |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2183-2803 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | Cogitatio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Social Inclusion |
| spelling | doaj-art-cb522de9af774946b32ac5a6784c9abc2025-08-20T01:58:04ZengCogitatioSocial Inclusion2183-28032025-02-0113010.17645/si.91284018Participation in Times of War: The Ambivalence of Digital MediaOlga Zvonareva0Care and Public Health Research Institute, Maastricht University, The NetherlandsDo digital media support or undermine democracy and freedom? Building on recent scholarship that highlights the diversity of digital media’s effects, this article begins with the premise that digital media do not clearly shape political life in contemporary societies one way or another but are instead ambivalent. The article seeks to explicate how exactly the ambivalence of digital media emerges and to arrive at a suitable conceptualisation of their role. Empirically, to capture how digital media become embroiled in very different kinds of political action, I draw on a prolonged ethnographic engagement with two war‐time volunteer initiatives in Russia. Both initiatives participate in politics by assisting Ukrainian war refugees who fled in the direction of Russia, and both rely on the messaging app Telegram. However, the participation of one amounts to resisting the imperative of supporting the aggression foisted by the state on Russian citizens, while the participation of another heightens this very imperative. I engage with these two contrasting digitally mediated initiatives doing similar activities but acting on vastly different commitments to illuminate the digital media’s ambivalence. I show how digital media contribute to the creation of and cracking down on democratic openings by becoming actors in the collective action networks that strive to resist oppressive political strategies and, simultaneously, in the networks that strive to further strengthen the very same strategies.https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/9128authoritarianismcollective actiondemocracydigital mediadigital participationparticipation amidst hostilitypublic participationrussiatelegram |
| spellingShingle | Olga Zvonareva Participation in Times of War: The Ambivalence of Digital Media Social Inclusion authoritarianism collective action democracy digital media digital participation participation amidst hostility public participation russia telegram |
| title | Participation in Times of War: The Ambivalence of Digital Media |
| title_full | Participation in Times of War: The Ambivalence of Digital Media |
| title_fullStr | Participation in Times of War: The Ambivalence of Digital Media |
| title_full_unstemmed | Participation in Times of War: The Ambivalence of Digital Media |
| title_short | Participation in Times of War: The Ambivalence of Digital Media |
| title_sort | participation in times of war the ambivalence of digital media |
| topic | authoritarianism collective action democracy digital media digital participation participation amidst hostility public participation russia telegram |
| url | https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/9128 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT olgazvonareva participationintimesofwartheambivalenceofdigitalmedia |