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HU Credits:
2
Degree/Cycle:
2nd degree (Master)
Responsible Department:
communication & journalism
Semester:
1st Semester
Teaching Languages:
English
Campus:
Mt. Scopus
Course/Module Coordinator:
Dr. Christian Baden
Coordinator Office Hours:
Wednesday 16-18
Teaching Staff:
Dr. Christian Baden
Course/Module description:
Public communication as a means to mobilize support stands at the beginning of any kind of political change: Both in democracies and in authoritarian systems, new thoughts and political ideas are brought into the debate mostly by activists and dissidents. However, before new ideas can become politically influential, they need to be pushed into the public debate, and gain support throughout society and the political system. This course investigates what are the main challenges that political activists need to address, and how protest takes different forms and employs different strategies and tactics in different countries, cultures, and circumstances. We look at a wide variety of cases around the world, ranging from opposition movements in Socialist and authoritarian countries, over environmental and civil rights protests, to peace movements and protests on behalf of foreign nations. Based on an examination of the successes and failures of different groups, we will develop a deeper understanding for the communicative dynamics of protest communication. Building upon this understanding, we then focus on a selection of specific protest movements around the globe, mapping their specific goals and strategies, challenges and opportunities for achieving political change. In small project groups, we will analyze these movements' activities at communicating their causes toward the media, the public, and political authorities. Bringing together all insights from the different cases, we discuss how different strategies can be applied in different contexts, and review the implications for the viability of effective political protest.
Course/Module aims:
To study the enactment of protest and activist communication in different cultural, political and media contexts around the globe; to understand the challenges that protest communication must meet, the different strategies for rendering protest publicly and politically effective, as well as the influence of the socio-cultural setting upon available avenues for protest; to discuss the specific successes and failures of protest communication strategies and critically evaluate them against the underlying goals .
Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
- Define and productively engage the role of protest as a key concept in political communication
- Understand the mechanisms underlying protest communication, as well as the conditions and contextual factors facilitating or obstructing its success in different socio-cultural and political settings around the globe
- Critically evaluate activist and protest communication strategies regarding their ability to meet key challenges and initiate public and political debates
- Apply the analytic perspectives discussed in the class to cases of protest communication
- Provide a political and ethical appraisal of concrete protest communication strategies and understand their roles within a pluralist political debate
- Design small-scale research projects based on the class content
Attendance requirements(%):
85
Teaching arrangement and method of instruction:
lecture, assignments, class discussion
Course/Module Content:
BLOCK I: BASICS
23.10.17 Communicating for political change: Basics
30.10.17 Challenges in protest communication I: Attention & Media
06.11.17 Challenges in protest communication II: Legitimation & Persuasion
13.11.17 Challenges in protest communication III: Mobilizing Supporters
BLOCK II: RESEARCH PROJECT
20.11.17 Analyzing protest communication & Selection of case studies
27.11.17 Development of a structured approach for the case studies
04.12.17 Validation & Getting ready for the field
11.12.17 Group consultations during the research process
18.12.17 Presentation & discussion of results
Required Reading:
Lipsky, M. (1968). Protest as political resource. American Political Science Review, 62, 1144-1158.
Snow, D. A., & Benford, R. D. (1992). Master frames and cycles of protest. In A. Morris & C. Mueller (eds.), Frontiers in social movement theory (pp. 133-155). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Taylor, V., & van Dyke, N. (2004). "Get up, stand up": Tactical repertoires of social movements. In D. A. Snow, S. A. Soule & H. Kriesi (Eds.), The Blackwell companion to social movements. Malden, MA: Blackwell. doi: 10.1002/9780470999103.ch12
Delicath, J.W. & DeLuca, K.M. (2003). Image events, the public sphere, and argumentative practice: The case of radical environmental groups. Argumentation, 17, 315-333.
Bruner, L. (2005). Carnivalesque protest and the humorless state. Text and Performance Quarterly, 25, 136-155. doi: 10.1080/10462930500122773
Straughn, J. B. (2005). "Taking the state at its word": The arts of consentful contention in the German Democratic Republic. American Journal of Sociology, 110(6), 1598-1650.
Gerhards, J., & Rucht, D. (1992). Mesomobilization: Organizing framing in two protest campaigns in West Germany. The American Journal of Sociology, 98(3), 555-595.
Fisher, D. R., & Boekkooi, M. E. (2010). Mobilizing friends and strangers. Information, Communication & Society, 13(2), 193-208.
Sreberny, A. & Mohammadi, A. (1994). Small media and revolutionary change: A new model. In A. Sreberny & A. Mohammadi (eds.), Small media, big revolution: Communication, culture, and the Iranian revolution (pp. 19-42). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
Tenenboim-Weinblatt, K. (2014). Producing protest news: An inquiry into journalists' narratives. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 19(4), 410. doi:10.1177/1940161214540941
Bennett, W. L. & Segerberg, A. (2012). The logic of connective action: Digital media and the personalization of contentious politics. Information, Communication & Society, 15(5), 739-768. doi: 10.1080/1369118X.2012.670661
Garrett, R. K. (2006). Protest in an information society: A review of literature on social movements and new ICTs. Information, Communication & Society, 9(2), 202-224.
Gerring, J. (2004). What is a case study and what is it good for? American Political Science Review, 98(2), 341-354.
Snow, D. A., & Trom, D. (2002). The case study and the study of social movements. In B. Klandermans & S. Staggenborg (Eds.), Methods of social movement research (pp. 146-172). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
van Gorp, B. (2010). Strategies to take subjectivity out of framing atnalysis. In P. D'Angelo & J. A. Kuypers (Eds.), Doing news framing analysis: Empirical and theoretical perspectives (pp. 84-109). New York: Routledge.
Johnston, H. (2002). Verification and proof in frame and discourse analysis. In B. Klandermans & S. Staggenborg (Eds.), Methods of social movement research (pp. 62-91). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
Additional Reading Material:
Will be specified in a more detailed syllabus handed out to class registrants.
Course/Module evaluation:
End of year written/oral examination 0 %
Presentation 40 %
Participation in Tutorials 0 %
Project work 0 %
Assignments 0 %
Reports 40 %
Research project 0 %
Quizzes 0 %
Other 20 %
Active Participation
Additional information:
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