Urban Riots in Europe, Post‐2000
Since the start of the new millennium there have been four major instances of urban “rioting” in Europe, each of which has given rise to prolonged academic and/or public theoretical speculation regarding the underlying political origins and motives of such action. The term “rioting” is often rejected as inappropriate by academic and political commentators, on the grounds that it often used to suggest “wanton criminality” or, oppositely, to imply a degree of political awareness and ambition that is actually lacking among participants. Here we shall be employing the more neutral descriptor of “disorders” in referring to such events.
Catch me if you can: Online protests on sites powered by user-generated content
Abstract This study concentrates on online protests in websites that rely on user-generated content. We develop a case study on Digg, a website powered by user-generated content that encounters backlash from their community. Through an interpretive analysis of the case we identify how the context and interactions among key players lead to what we call a “catch me if you can” game, where users and administrators of the website battle in an effort to outsmart and outmaneuver each other. The findings reveal a tension between users and administrators that intensifies during the protest, and should be considered carefully by site administrators.
The Internet and the Changing Beijing-Taipei Relations: Toward Unification or Fragmentation?
Information and its technologies facilitate the exercise of what has been called “soft power,” a concept that differentiates information from the conventional dimensions of “hard power,” which is mainly associated with military force and economic influence. Soft power, according to Nye, a former Assistant Secretary of Defense of the United States, means that “A country may obtain the outcomes it wants in world politics because other countries want to follow it, admiring its values, emulating its example, aspiring to its level of prosperity and openness. In this sense it is just as important to set the agenda in world politics and attract others as it is to force them to change through the threat or use of military or economic weapons.”1