Vol. 16, Nº. 1 | 1º semester (January-June) | Published: 01/01/2018

Guest editors: Miguel de Aguilera (Universidad de Málaga, Spain) and Andreu Casero-Ripollés (Universitat Jaume I de Castelló, Spain)

The transformations that political communication is experiencing in the digital environment are disrupting the scenario, the actors and the balance of power between them. The new digital media, usually considered as messianic technologies, are opening the debate between the public or citizens empowerment, and idea that rises as a new totem in the framework of utopian or dystopian approaches, depending on who articulates them. This presents the redefinition of the power flows and opens a new possibility for the social change and the transformation of the democracy.

Digital platforms, such as social media or app, and their communicative potential are generating debates about the new modalities of building the public agenda, about the ability to articulate new discourses or about the power struggles between old and new political actors, media actors, and social actors in this new environment, among other aspects. All these questions require new knowledge to understand this era of transit and its communicative and democratic consequences.