Yes / This study examines the extent to which acculturation and enculturation orientations affect online political participation, political involvement and voting intentions among a sample of Turkish-Dutch immigrants. The study uses data from Turkish-Dutch participants. Structural Equations Modelling (SEM) is employed for assessing the relationships in the conceptualized model. The findings show that enculturation and acculturation influence online participation and involvement, which in turn, are related to voting intentions. The study further examines the mediating role of political involvement and online political participation. Political involvement mediates the relationships between enculturation and acculturation and voting intentions. The results further indicate the effect of online participation on voting intentions is mediated by political involvement. The study findings provide insights into offline and online cultural and civic engagement tendencies among an important immigrant segment that policy makers should consider in the future.

This thesis seeks to challenge the dominant modes of conceiving the empirical link between citizens’ negative perceptions of immigrants and electoral support for Western European radical right parties, and in doing so, to offer a deeper understanding of the dynamics of radical right voting behavior based on an analysis of radical right parties’ online activities. Despite radical right parties' great popularity and important presence online, little scholarly attention has been paid to their activities in an online space. Accordingly, most empirical research on radical right voting behavior has been conducted in an offline context, ignoring the potential role the Internet plays in connecting radical right parties and voters. Building on Norris’s demand-supply framework, I consider the largely ignored factor, citizens' online activities, in my quantitative model and, ultimately, develop formal links between citizens’ anti-immigrant attitudes and electoral support for radical right parties conditional on their level of Internet usage. Thereby, I aim to provide an answer to the following research question: Does citizens’ Internet usage moderate the relationship between anti-immigrant attitudes and radical right voting? Using data from the 9th wave of the European Social Survey (ESS), I test whether voters' high level of Internet consumption strengthens the positive relationship between anti-immigrant attitudes and electoral support for radical right parties in eight Western European countries. The results show that my expectations are strongly supported at the cross-national level and partially confirmed at the national level by Belgium, Germany, and Italy. My findings hold promise for future work in designing more elaborate and practical voting models.

No description available.

This paper deals with online political discussion on social networking sites. Drawing from Habermas’ concept of the public sphere and former adaptations of public sphere theory to Internet research, the study examines to what extent political discussion on social networking sites displays public issue focus as well as deliberative, liberal and communitarian characteristics. The empirical analysis is a case study that scrutinizes two opposing Facebook pages created in the context of the topic ‘Stuttgart 21’ – a construction project that evoked a local civic protest movement in the city of Stuttgart in the south of Germany. Using an ethnographic approach, the study takes into account the architecture, culture and discussion style on the two pages and aims at describing the pages in terms of their degree of reciprocity, contestation, ideological homogeneity, rationality and contextualisation with the offline protest movement. The results show two polarized pages that lack deliberation and dialogue, but feature ideological homophily and identification. The results back the fragmentation theory of Internet audiences, while not maintaining the fear of losing the common ground in society. On the contrary, the study suggests that civic political engagement on social networking sites should be discussed in the context of radical democratic processes. It concludes that the utilization of social networks in order to politically inform, stimulate and mobilise scalable publics is desirable.

abstract: Millions of users leave digital traces of their political engagements on social media platforms every day. Users form networks of interactions, produce textual content, like and share each others' content. This creates an invaluable opportunity to better understand the political engagements of internet users. In this proposal, I present three algorithmic solutions to three facets of online political networks; namely, detection of communities, antagonisms and the impact of certain types of accounts on political polarization. First, I develop a multi-view community detection algorithm to find politically pure communities. I find that word usage among other content types (i.e. hashtags, URLs) complement user interactions the best in accurately detecting communities. Second, I focus on detecting negative linkages between politically motivated social media users. Major social media platforms do not facilitate their users with built-in negative interaction options. However, many political network analysis tasks rely on not only positive but also negative linkages. Here, I present the SocLSFact framework to detect negative linkages among social media users. It utilizes three pieces of information; sentiment cues of textual interactions, positive interactions, and socially balanced triads. I evaluate the contribution of each three aspects in negative link detection performance on multiple tasks. Third, I propose an experimental setup that quantifies the polarization impact of automated accounts on Twitter retweet networks. I focus on a dataset of tragic Parkland shooting event and its aftermath. I show that when automated accounts are removed from the retweet network the network polarization decrease significantly, while a same number of accounts to the automated accounts are removed randomly the difference is not significant. I also find that prominent predictors of engagement of automatically generated content is not very different than what previous studies point out in general engaging content on social media. Last but not least, I identify accounts which self-disclose their automated nature in their profile by using expressions such as bot, chat-bot, or robot. I find that human engagement to self-disclosing accounts compared to non-disclosing automated accounts is much smaller. This observational finding can motivate further efforts into automated account detection research to prevent their unintended impact. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Computer Science 2019

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The recent political events in Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Tunisia (2011) have confirmed the key role of social networks (SNSs), as well as online political news in supporting citizens with their self-determination. Furthermore, “changes in the media landscape present new challenges for scholars interested in the relationship between the media and civil society. Additionally, the explosion of the Internet that started in advanced democracies and has spread through much of the globe provides new and unexplored pathways for communication. Moreover, the inclusion of the Internet in the media environment raises new questions for citizens, politicians, researchers, journalists, and government” (Oates, Owen & Gibson, 2006, p. 1). This study looks at the relationships between young people’s exposure to political news on the Internet and their political awareness. It develops and applies an index for political participation composed of several variables measuring political interest, discussion, knowledge, and participation. The survey among students in both countries was administered in Arabic and German, while the master questionnaire was developed in English. The survey was conducted between April and June 2010 in Egypt at Minia University and in Germany at Technical university of Dresden. The sample size was 1000 (500 in each country) students from several departments representing different academic fields: three departments of Engineering, three departments of Humanities and Social Science, and finally three departments of Natural Science. The study’s main research question was: “What is the impact of students’ exposure to political news on the Internet on their political awareness and civic activities?” The researcher started from the hypothesis that heavy use of political news on the Internet is positively related to political awareness. A further research question aimed at gauging the role of intervening variables such as gender and field of study for the relationship between the use of political news on the Internet and the level of political awareness. Results show that there is a positive relationship between using political online news and political awareness. German students’ political awareness for German students was higher than Egypt student’s political awareness (M=63.02, SD=15.65, comparing to M=45.72, SD= 17.65 for Egyptians).

This research uses the 2010-post election survey by Pew Internet and American Life project and traces the direct and indirect paths of online political information use, Facebook political information use, and mobile phones political information use to political participation to online and offline political participation. Indirect paths are traced through the paths of wider view exposure and the credibility to online and offline political participation. The theoretical framework of the O-S-O-R model is used to guide the path analyses for this research. This research finds that both online political information use and Facebook political information use expose respondents to a wider diversity of views, but that it does not lead to political participation. Furthermore, all three mediums are found to be credible sources of information leading to online political participation with different strengths, while Facebook political information use also leads to offline political participation. Thus, credibility is an important factor and even suggests the possible need for an opinion leader. This is especially so for the use of Facebook, which has the best balanced information dissemination structure its friend network of identifiable people, organisations, and institutions. Facebook also provides the best platform for critical debate and engaging potential voters. Mobile phone political use is also supportive of political participation, but is more questioned in terms of whether the participation it brings is able to lead to critical debate. Keywords: Political participation, Facebook, social media, mobile phones, online political information, wider view exposure, credibility.

While in Western democracies the study of the impact of Internet on civic and political participation is very popular, in the Czech Republic this type of study is still at the beginning. It is merely focused on the impact of Internet on voter turnout and political campaigning. However the study of the impact of the Internet on civic and political participation from the indivdual level is still missing. Because of that te aim of this study is to analyze the impact of Internet use on political and civic participation. Based on my research I analyzed the internet activities and main factors that influence participation. The results of this study show that Internet is not going to be a panacea for political participation.

The recent political events in Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Tunisia (2011) have confirmed the key role of social networks (SNSs), as well as online political news in supporting citizens with their self-determination. Furthermore, “changes in the media landscape present new challenges for scholars interested in the relationship between the media and civil society. Additionally, the explosion of the Internet that started in advanced democracies and has spread through much of the globe provides new and unexplored pathways for communication. Moreover, the inclusion of the Internet in the media environment raises new questions for citizens, politicians, researchers, journalists, and government” (Oates, Owen & Gibson, 2006, p. 1). This study looks at the relationships between young people’s exposure to political news on the Internet and their political awareness. It develops and applies an index for political participation composed of several variables measuring political interest, discussion, knowledge, and participation. The survey among students in both countries was administered in Arabic and German, while the master questionnaire was developed in English. The survey was conducted between April and June 2010 in Egypt at Minia University and in Germany at Technical university of Dresden. The sample size was 1000 (500 in each country) students from several departments representing different academic fields: three departments of Engineering, three departments of Humanities and Social Science, and finally three departments of Natural Science. The study’s main research question was: “What is the impact of students’ exposure to political news on the Internet on their political awareness and civic activities?” The researcher started from the hypothesis that heavy use of political news on the Internet is positively related to political awareness. A further research question aimed at gauging the role of intervening variables such as gender and field of study for the relationship between the use of political news on the Internet and the level of political awareness. Results show that there is a positive relationship between using political online news and political awareness. German students’ political awareness for German students was higher than Egypt student’s political awareness (M=63.02, SD=15.65, comparing to M=45.72, SD= 17.65 for Egyptians).:Table of Contents: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS II ABSTRACT III TABLE OF CONTENTS IV INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1 POLITICAL COMMUNICATION IN THE LIFE OF YOUNG PEOPLE……………………………………………………………………………...8 1.1 INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL COMMUNICATION 8 1.2. POLITICAL MEDIA USES AND EFFECTS IN THE LIFE OF YOUNG PEOPLE 10 1.3. THE ROLE OF POLITICAL COMMUNICATION IN ELECTION CAMPAIGNS 12 1.4. THE LITERATURE UP TO NOW IN THIS AREA 14 1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESIS 18 1.5.1 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 18 1.5.2 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS 18 CHAPTER 2: CHANGING COMMUNICATION ENVIRONMENT THROUGH THE INTERNET AGE ……………..20 2.1 INTRODUCTION 20 2.2 INTERNET HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT 20 2.3 STRUCTURE, FEATURES AND PHENOMENA OF THE INTERNET 23 2.3.1 MANY TO MANY COMMUNICATION 23 2.3.2 INTERACTIVITY 34 2.3.3 CREDIBILITY 28 2.4 SOCIAL NETWORK (SNSS) 30 2.4.1 SOCIAL NETWORK; DEFINITION, HISTORY, AND DEVELOPMENT 30 2.4.2 SOCIAL NETWORK (SNSS); USERS, CHARACTERISTICS AND FEATURES 32 2.4. 3 BLOGS 35 2.5 INTERNET USE 38 2.5.1 GENERAL TRENDS 38 2.5.2. SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES AND –INTERNET USE 40 2.6. SOCIAL NETWORK AND POLITICAL TRANSFORMATION IN EGYPT 44 2.7 CONCLUSION 47 CHAPTER 3 POLITICAL AWARENESS AND RELATED CONSTRUCTS……….. 49 3.1 INTRODUCTION 49 3.2 POLITICAL COGNITIONS 50 3.3 POLITICAL INTEREST 51 3.4 POLITICAL KNOWLEDGE 52 3.4.1. MEASURING OF POLITICAL KNOWLEDGE 53 3.4.2 MEDIA USE AND POLITICAL KNOWLEDGE 54 3.5. POLITICAL EFFICACY 56 3.5.1 DEFINITION 56 3.5.2. MEASURINGOF POLITICAL EFFICACY 58 3.6. POLITICAL PARTICIPATION 59 3.6.1. THE INFLUENCE OF MEDIA ON POLITICAL PARTICIPATION 61 3.6.2. MEASURING OF POLITICAL PARTICIPATION 62 3.6.3 VOTING 63 3.7. POLITICAL DISCOURSE 66 3.8. POLITICAL AWARENESS 67 3.8.1. CONCLUSION ON THE OPERATIONALIZATION 68 3.8.2. MASS MEDIA AND POLITICAL AWARENESS 70 CHAPTER4: THE POLITICAL AND MEDIA SYSTEMS IN GERMANY AND EGYPT 71 4.1. EGYPTIAN POLITICAL SYSTEM 71 4.2. EGYPTIAN MEDIA SYSTEM 72 4.2.1 HISTORY AND POLITICAL FRAMEWORK 72 4.2.2 THE EGYPTIAN PRESS 75 4.2.3. RADIO AND TV UNION 77 4.2.4 OTHER MEDIA OUTLETS 97 4.3. GERMANY MEDIA SYSTEM AND POLITICAL SYSTEM 81 4.4. GERMANY MEDIA SYSTEM 82 4.4.1 HISTORY AND POLITICAL FRAMEWORK 82 4.4.2 THE GERMANY PRESS 83 4.4.3. RADIO AND TV UNION 84 4.4.4. OTHER MEDIA OUTLETS 85 5.1. CONCLUSION 85 CHAPTER 5: METHODS ………87 5.1. SAMPLE 87 5.2. QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT 88 5.3. FIELDWORK AND DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE 89 5.3.1 DEPENDENT VARIABLES 89 5.3.2. INDEPENDENT VARIABLE (IV’S) 91 5.4. DATA ANALYSIS …92 5.5. VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY OF MEASURES.. 93 5.5.1 VALIDITY 93 5.5.2 RELIABILITY 94 CHAPTER 6: RESULTS COMPARING EGYPTIAN AND GERMANY UNIVERSITY STUDENT’S ….95 6.1 POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS OF MEDIA USE 95 6.1.1 POLITICAL FREEDOM 95 6.1.2 TECHNICAL ACCESS TO INTERNET 98 6.1.3 THE DIGITAL DIVIDE 98 6.2. GENERAL MEDIA EXPOSURE 101 6.2.1 TRADITIONAL OR NEW MEDIA PLATFORM? 102 6.2.2 WHERE AND WHEN DO YOUNG PEOPLE USE THE INTERNET? 104 6.3 EXPOSURES TO POLITICAL MEDIA CONTENT 106 6.3.1 ACCESSING POLITICAL INFORMATION ONLINE 107 6.3.2. THE AMOUNT OF ONLINE COVERAGE OF POLITICAL NEWS 109 6.3.3 CONFIDENCE AND ACCURATE PICTURE OF ONLINE POLITICAL NEWS 110 6.4 POLITICAL AWARENESS 111 6.4.1 POLITICAL INTEREST 111 6.4.2 POLITICAL DISCUSSION 113 6.4.3. POLITICAL KNOWLEDGE 113 6.4.4 POLITICAL PARTICIPATION 116 6.5. INTERNET USE AND POLITICAL AWARENESS 119 CHAPTER 7: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION IN LIGHT OF THEORY AND HYPOTHESIS 126 8. RECOMMENDATIONS 129 9. REFERENCES 130 APPENDICES. 145 A/QUESTIONNAIRE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE 145 B/QUESTIONNAIRE IN GERMAN LANGUAGE 155 C/QUESTIONNAIRE IN ARABIC LANGUAGE 166 APPENDIX. D. AGREEMENT LETTER TO APPLY QUESTIONNAIRE IN EGYPT FROM CENTRAL AGENCY FOR PUBLIC MOBILIZATION AND STATISTICS 175 APPENDIX. E. LIST OF TABLES 176