•  
  •  

Home > Vol. 3 (2011) > Iss. 4

 

Abstract

New social network technology provides individuals and small groups with powerful resources for rapid political mobilization. Such mobilization can create strategic surprises for policy-makers. Two cases of Web 2.0 driven micro-mobilization processes and one case of Web 1.0 driven micro-mobilization process are considered. In these cases policy-makers were taken by surprise because their repertoires of action were focused primarily on official arrangements of consultation and on the news coverage by traditional media. As a result, micro-mobilization may confront traditional intermediary organizations and policy-makers with rather ‘uncontrolled’ demands for change. These demands may act as ‘focusing events’ that challenge the legitimacy of public organizations, policy programmes and existing consultation and negotiation patterns. Governments need to respond to these focusing events and the paper ends by discussing some coping strategies governments may need to deploy.