Power Play. Politica, media e partecipazione: metamorfosi possibili nell’epoca delle reti globali

Interactive global networks, and the increasing pervasiveness-diffusion of media, alter the ways and areas in which the debate and political competition are held and performed. Political 'story' is less centralized and more difficult to control, it takes shape in the clash-comparison between opposing tendencies and various content, produced and distributed by a greater number of actors. Communicative relationships between politicians, professional media and citizens are changed in a profound way; and narrative control slides and fluctuates in an endless series of interactions and communications. The mass self-communication and global interactive networks enable and encourage the emergence of 'new' socio-political trends and civic engagement. The new forms of storytelling and participation must, however, be analysed taking into account the pre-existing power relations and the limits of political participation itself; to which must be added those imposed by its own characteristics: of the new forms of interaction enabled by digital and mobile media, and of the socio-cultural environment in which they engage.