LIBRI DI CRISTIAN VACCARI

Internet and political participation in Italian and French elections Contemporary Western parties are often said to be facing a legitimacy crisis, which most scholars attribute to a weakening of party on the ground structures and activities. However, the development of various internet-based participatory tools and applications could incrementally help parties to overcome this problem and partially restore their democratic legitimacy. This article explores these issues through a comparative quantitative analysis of Italian and French parties’ websites in the 2006 and 2007 elections. Results highlight a noticeable difference in the use of participatory tools, which is more common in French than in Italian websites, especially with respect to online resource mobilization. Moreover, significant disparities emerge in both countries among parties of different ideological orientations, as progressive parties’ websites are significantly more participation-oriented than those of communist, centrist, conservative, and radical-right ones. Keywords: Electoral Campaigns; Political Parties’ Websites; Participatory Tools; Italy and France.

More Information than Participation: The Parties’ Internet Websites in the 2008 Electoral Campaign - This article presents the results of a scientific analysis of the internet websites of 17 parties that ran in the Italian 2008 general elections. The analysis was conducted through a standardized coding scheme which includes 91 variables, divided into three macro-areas: information tools, participation tools and professionalism. Results show that, as was found in previous studies, Italian parties are still reluctant to invest in online communication, especially as far as users’ involvement is concerned. However, there are significant differences between major parties, which were included in one of the two coalitions that aspired to a parliamentary majority, and minor parties. Relevant imbalances were also found between centreleft and centre-right parties.

This article reports the results of a research conducted on United States Presidential candidates’ websites three months from the vote in the 2008 primaries. The analysis was based on a coding scheme featuring eighty-nine variables and it was conducted on eighteen candidate websites. Results show that the websites tend to offer about equal opportunities for participation as for information. Significant differences in overall quality emerge between the websites of front-runners and those of minor candidates. Moreover, Democrats’ websites achieve remarkably higher scores than Republicans’. The reasons for these phenomena can be found in the attitudes of the public of online political communication, but also in the peculiar conformation of Us parties.

La campagna elettorale per le presidenziali negli Stati Uniti ha visto a confronto due strategie molto diverse. Quella del presidente in carica, finalizzata a enfatizzare l’importanza della guerra al terrorismo e la leadership e affidabilità del presidente. Quella dello sfidante, che ha cercato di tenere insieme temi di politica interna e di politica estera, ha posto l’accento soprattutto sulla competenza del candidato Democratico e sui risultati negativi dell’amministrazione. L’esito del voto ha premiato l’incumbent in quanto la maggior parte dell’elettorato non ha riscontrato nel corso della campagna elettorale sufficienti ragioni per sostituire un presidente che, seppure non popolarissimo, godeva comunque ancora della fiducia di una quota sufficiente di elettori

La campagna elettorale di Sergio Cofferati per la carica di sindaco di Bologna presenta numerosi elementi di novità, che si possono ricondurre nella tipologia delle campagne elettorali postmoderne. Tra queste, le principali sono il rifiuto dell’appiattimento sui media tradizionali, specie la televisione, e l’uso creativo delle nuove tecnologie, ma soprattutto, il recupero di modalità classiche di partecipazione e il coinvolgimento dei cittadini in tutte le forme associative. In questo modo Cofferati è riuscito non solo a rimobilitare gli elettori delusi che nel 1999 avevano voltato le spalle alla sinistra, ma anche a raccogliere e convogliare energie nuove, tra cui in particolare quel ceto medio riflessivo emerso in questi anni come uno dei gruppi elettorali e sociali di riferimento per il centrosinistra. Il senso di questa campagna si può tradurre come il passaggio da una comunicazione politica esclusivamente di massa a una comunicazione politica diffusa, che recuperi la dimensione del dialogo e del coinvolgimento degli elettori.