Influence of digitalisation in citizen-initiated political participation: Online epistemic governance cases in Italy and Finland

Abstract

Digitalisation has influenced nearly all aspects of people’s everyday lives, from online grocery shopping to working remotely and enjoying novel forms of virtual entertainment, to mention a few. Political practices, however, have still remained relatively unchanged in the past decades, and digitalisation has more often been seen as a threat to politics than an opportunity. Meanwhile, the forms of ‘classical-modernist governance’ have started to suffer from a lack of authority, as citizens’ trust in traditional institutions has declined and the decision-making dynamics of representative politics have been questioned.

To counter these problems, citizen-initiated digital political movements have started to appear. Also defined as ‘platform parties’, these movements are reshaping the ways in which political participation is understood and organised: they challenge both traditional governance and scepticism towards online politics by founding their principles in digital political participation and collective decision-making. Research on the implications of platform parties and digital political participation is still, however, in its early stages. This thesis aspires to contribute to the emerging tradition of digital political participation research by exploring how platform parties are able to gain legitimacy in relation to traditional governance. The research question is, how do MoVimento 5 Stelle (M5S) and Liike Nyt (LN) legitimise themselves in relation to forms of classical-modernist governance and seek to shape the course of social change towards digital political participation?

A qualitative discursive study was conducted to answer the research question. The dataset comprised of an extensive amount of blog texts that had been published between March and September of 2019 on M5S and LN’s websites. The data regarding LN was complemented with an interview conducted with a key person from the party. The data was then analysed with the conceptual framework of epistemic governance that guides to understand how actors pursue social change in desired directions. The framework provided analytical tools to identify the discursive ways through which M5S and LN seek to legitimise themselves, counter representative politics, and promote e-participation.

According to the empirical findings and the pertinent literature, M5S and LN pursue to implement new concepts in political discussions, such as digital citizenship, and establish new operational models of political organisation that are characterised by Internet-based direct or hybrid governance. The platform parties promote these intentions particularly through three discursive ways: 1) the juxtaposition between classical-modernist or “outdated” forms of governance, and the “developed” digitalised form of political governance, 2) the internal and external identifications by which the parties seek legitimation from their audiences, and 3) ‘anti-ideological’ decision-making combined with digital fundamental rights as value base. As a whole, the study indicates that citizen-initiated digital political participation is more advanced and nuanced than what current popular accounts and studies would seem to suggest.