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The Informed Citizen and the Culture
of Democracy
CMS aims to foster
research about democracy and citizenship at the intersection
between the traditional concerns of political science and
the study of popular culture. To date, most discussion of
"cyber-democracy" has centered on such traditional
topics as political campaigns, lobbying, regulation and
legislation. But citizenship only thrives when the entire
culture encourages and reinforces democratic participation.
Focusing on "democratic culture" and new media,
we aim to explore the ways in which changes in communications
media, popular culture and information infrastructures have
influenced collective definitions of the "political."
We encourage
new approaches to such questions as the role of gender,
race, and economic status in determining access to new media;
the role of popular culture in shaping political values;
the ways in which political candidates are exploiting (or
failing to exploit) digital media to reach new constituencies
or to establish new sorts of relationships with the electorate.
We also consider the international dimensions of this emerging
political culture, especially the points of tension between
national cultures as they respond to trans-national or global
communications systems. Finally, we aim to nourish new digital
literacy among journalists as well as to develop new (and
sometimes interactive) models for gathering and disseminating
political information.
Events
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