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digilog@bw – Dynamics of Participation in the Era of Digitalisation

Previous research has shown that digital media participation has a positive, although yet small, effect on political engagement. While scientists have focused mostly on explaining the magnitude of this effect, this project analyses the way in which top-down and bottom-up agenda settings have been transformed by the use of digital media. This project also studies how political behaviour at the supply and demand sides has been shaped by digitalization and the more immediate interactions between citizens and political actors. In sum, this research aims to 1) disentangle whether and how parties and politicians use their online participation to influence citizens’ behaviour, 2) evaluate how citizens’ online activity affects parties’ and individual politicians’ decisions, and 3) assess the repercussions of citizens’ online activity and interaction with elites on citizens’ perceptions, attitudes, and behaviour such as the degree of trust citizens attach to political institutions.