digital rights campaigning in the eu, yana breindl ecf 2012
TRANSCRIPT
Digital Rights Campaigning: How do decision-makers perceive
civil society input?
Yana BreindlPost-doctoral fellow
Oxford Internet Institute21 March 2012
INTERNET CAMPAIGNING
Internet campaigning
Extension of action repertoire
(Van Laer & Van Aelst, 2010)
WHY CAMPAIGN?
Internet campaigning
Slacktivism/clicktivism critique
• If you don’t go to the streets, you’re not really engaged
?
Assessing influence
• Awareness• Credibility• Change
EU CAMPAIGN ON COPYRIGHT AND NET NEUTRALITY
Case study
The EU Telecoms reform Five European directives regulating the European
telecommunications market
Two controversial issues:
– Graduated response / three-strikes
– Net neutrality
A transnational campaign
High threshold campaign
• Protest websites• Wikis• Mailing lists…
High threshold campaign
• Political coding
PERCEPTION BY MEPS
Awareness
“It's impossible not to notice or be insensitive to their argumentation”
(ADLE political adviser)
“When you looked at sorts of networking sites, you could see my reply was being passed around and then people would contact you. In some stage, it was like having your exam papers marked”
(EPP-ED MEP, rapporteur)
Credibility
“You absolutely had to take [them] into account. Because behind them, there was an entire population of people who make the economy of the future”
(ADLE adviser)
“They present themselves as three guys in a garage but behind they do have a few very well informed and educated persons who are very competent on a certain number of issues”
(committee administrator)
“Loose interpretation that references previous stages but rewrites certain parts”
(S&D assistant)
Change
“When there is this type of campaign, everybody starts doubting”
(ADLE adviser)
“It showed how a small lobby, when they know the techniques, can reach a lot”
(Committee administrator)
« Reflections of campaign all over package » (EP administrator)
CONCLUSIONS
Was the campaign successful? Broad awareness inside the institutions Battle for credibility
Legitimacy Persuasion/expertise
Relative influence Strong counter-lobbying
Electoral pressure (or lack of)
Relative power of the European Parliament
Conclusions
• How inclusive are political institutions?– Functional integration
• What type of citizen input is valued? Pure quantity of emails not sufficient, need to be
different, fact-based and supported by direct contact with MEPs.
Increases threshold for collective action.
