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Profile
| Academic position | Full Professor |
|---|---|
| Research fields | Political Science,Software Engineering and Programming Languages |
| Keywords | Autocracy, Political mobilization, Information technology, Political methodology, Protest |
| Honours and awards | 2020: Karl Deutsch Award, International Studies Association 2012: Sofja Kovalevskaja Award |
Current contact address
| Country | Germany |
|---|---|
| City | Konstanz |
| Institution | Universität Konstanz |
| Institute | Fachbereich für Politik- und Verwaltungswissenschaft |
Host during sponsorship
| Prof. Dr. Gerald Schneider | Fachbereich für Politik- und Verwaltungswissenschaft, Universität Konstanz, Konstanz |
|---|---|
| Start of initial sponsorship | 01/10/2012 |
Programme(s)
| 2012 | Sofja Kovalevskaja Award Programme |
|---|
Nominator's project description
| The "Arab Spring" has demonstrated again that democratic revolutions can be unleashed in seemingly stable authoritarian states. Many observer contend in this context that modern communcation technologies, in particular the Internet, are helpful in fostering democratization and pacification of societies. One causal mechanism that has been proposed to understand these processes sees the Internet as an alternative platform for group members to communicate outside their group. This possbilitty reduces ethnic mobilization, but improves inter-ethnic attitudes. However, modern communication technology also facilitates collective action, therby aggravating the problem of ethnic strife. We do, at the moment, not know which of these effects is stronger. Dr Weidmann proposes a highly innovative empirical research strategy to evaluate how beneficial modern communication technologies really are. His research team hopes to establish with cutting-edge methods from Computer Science how large the mobilized groups are in mass demonstrations; neither the government nor the opposition provide accurate information about these mobilizations. The Weidmann group will also examine trough a field experiment to be conducted in Bosnia how the internet transforms inter-ethnic attitudes. A final study will address the question whether Internet coverage of an event accelerates the spread of information within a network. |