Suchergebnisse

La época actual de crisis económica ha conllevado una crisis de tipo político también, que tiene como consecuencia una perdida de confianza por parte de los ciudadanos hacia las instituciones y los partidos tradicionales, que supuestamente actuarían como garantes de sus intereses. En Italia y España, dos países que se encuentran en situaciones parecidas, esto ha llevado al surgimiento de dos movimientos que han sabido explotar muchas de las herramientas que la comunicación política ofrece hoy en día, llegando a una considerable popularidad. Podemos y Movimento 5Stelle representan dentro de la comunicación política una autentica revolución y marcan para ella una era completamente nueva. ; The present situation of economic crisis soon enough entailed a state of political crisis as well. Citizens are losing their faith in the political parties and the institutions who should safeguard them. When comparing Italy and Spain, it is easy to observe a number of similarities between the two countries: the economical crisis brought the birth of two political parties whose subtle and skillful exploitation of means of communication gave rise to their considerable popularity. Podemos and Movimento 5Stelle could be considered as representatives of a proper revolutionary approach to media and communication systems.

This article discusses the cultural conceptions of trust underpinning the experimentation of blockchain startup applications beyond the financial sector. Based on qualitative research undertaken in the context of the so-called "Blockchain 2.0" scene, we show how a peculiar conception of trust, which blends the libertarian views of blockchain inventors with the neoliberal culture of competition and meritocracy that is typical of the startup world, underpins these implementations. As a result, we argue that "Blockchain 2.0" entrepreneurs ultimately fail to recognize the eminently social nature of the trust-building process. They emerge from our observation as unable to comprehend the extent to which the implementation of blockchain in a societal (i.e., not purely financial) context cannot do away with considerations about what kind of "social" the technology intervenes within, and find difficult to effectively conceive of how this technology embeds in existing social relations and power structures.

Blockchain technology enables new kinds of decentralized systems. Thus, it has often been advocated as a "disruptive" technology that could have the potentiality of reshaping political, economic, and social relations, "solving" problems like corruption, power centralization, and distrust toward political institutions. Blockchain has been gradually gaining attention beyond finance and is thus applied by a range of different actors. This includes local, regional, and national governments interested in the potentiality of experimenting with blockchain-supported governance. This article contributes to identifying blockchain as a contested socio-political object prone to contradictory political imaginaries regarding its potentialities, particularly when applied to policy. The article explores some of the most praised of blockchain's affordances (e.g., decentralization and transparency) in the context of Estonia, one of the most cited examples of blockchain governmental applications. Estonia has received international attention as the alleged first national infrastructure integrating blockchain. However, so far, few have asked: what kind of blockchain-based tools have been built by the Estonian government in practice and why? And to what extent do blockchain-based governmental applications reflect the original promises of disruption of the crypto-community? This article draws on a qualitative approach to explore several blockchain-based socio-technical objects to identify the narratives that have emerged in Estonia. The research shows clear contrasting views between stakeholders and technical experts from inside and outside the institutional sphere. The conflict revolves around two different social imaginaries associated with permissioned vs. public blockchains. The paper concludes with an analysis of the profound political implications of each vision.

La época actual de crisis económica ha conllevado una crisis de tipo político también, que tiene como consecuencia una perdida de confianza por parte de los ciudadanos hacia las instituciones y los partidos tradicionales, que supuestamente actuarían como garantes de sus intereses. En Italia y España, dos países que se encuentran en situaciones parecidas, esto ha llevado al surgimiento de dos movimientos que han sabido explotar muchas de las herramientas que la comunicación política ofrece hoy en día, llegando a una considerable popularidad. Podemos y Movimento 5Stelle representan dentro de la comunicación política una autentica revolución y marcan para ella una era completamente nueva. ; The present situation of economic crisis soon enough entailed a state of political crisis as well. Citizens are losing their faith in the political parties and the institutions who should safeguard them. When comparing Italy and Spain, it is easy to observe a number of similarities between the two countries: the economical crisis brought the birth of two political parties whose subtle and skillful exploitation of means of communication gave rise to their considerable popularity. Podemos and Movimento 5Stelle could be considered as representatives of a proper revolutionary approach to media and communication systems.