Web 2.0 and deliberation. The ongoing practice of political debate in weblogs

Abstract

This article focuses on the critical analysis of the blogosphere, in order to question its potential technological and political uses. As a starting point, we hypothesize that the blogosphere constitutes a particular form of public sphere in a discursive space, with a political density, in which practices of deliberation can take place. We will evaluate the debate concerning the identification of the blogosphere with the concept of the public sphere in order to develop this argument. We will do it by referencing the normative requirements of the deliberative model and patterns of interaction between authors and readers of blogs. By means of this approach, it will be possible to 1) confront the conditions for the existence of deliberation with the critical points of the generalized use of the blogosphere; 2) identify the basic elements of a framework of analysis to assess the existence of deliberative practices in the blogosphere; and 3) summarize the results of empirical studies conducted on this subject. Concerning these issues, we will analyze the quality of the debate around the concept of austerity” in two blogs that are politically connected with parties. Data showed the prevalence of homophily, which is embodied in a cyberbalcanization phenomenon. Therefore, all the discursive process is characterized by well-defined polarization patterns, supported in extreme views. We concluded that the concept of deliberation does not apply to the more general type of communication in these two political blogs. It could be applied to a concept of participation; however, from a deliberative standpoint, it could only be understood as a lighter form of social interaction, with little density in a political plan.