Post-Socialist and Post-Authoritarian Communication Working Group

The Post-Socialist and Post-Authoritarian Communication Working Group looks forward to receive proposals for papers and panels for the 2019 Congress of the Association, which will be held from 7 to 11 July, 2019 at the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain. The deadline for submission is 8 February 2019, at 23.59 UTC.

The conference will be held under the general theme “Communication, Technology, and Human Dignity: Disputed Rights, Contested Truths”

As suggested by the central overall theme of the conference the aim is to analyse the impact of the latest advances in communication technology on society, culture and human rights, giving special importance to the quality and authenticity of sources and messages in view of increased mechanization and artificial intelligence. The context of these problems is how the advance of technology affects the quality of human life, how communication technology affects the objectivity of facts, and how the geopolitical and socioeconomic contexts are affected by the most recent changes in the structure and modes adopted by communication processes.

We encourage participants to address these issues both from the viewpoint of the predominant communication systems and from those which are arising from the use of the new technologies – artificial intelligence, the growth of automation and robotics, Big Data and the Internet of Things. We also welcome analyses which re-evaluate and take a fresh look at human dignity in respect of geopolitics, the present-day socio-economic context, religion, transparency, accessibility and discrimination, and the re-composition of power, in the overall context of the implications of technology and communication in an interconnected world.

The working group on Post-Socialist and Post-Authoritarian Communication welcomes papers and panels both related to the conference theme and beyond, including such topics as:

  • What kind of new political and media actors emerged in post- and neo-authoritarian societies or in transitional societies in general?
  • What are their communication strategies and what media do they prefer to use in an interconnected world?
  • How often the issues of human rights and of equality and discrimination from the point of view of migration, membership, citizenship and the “right to belong” are the topics for election/political campaigns in transitional societies?
  • Disinformation campaigns and the massive use of control systems in political and legal decision making
  • Use of "soft power" in the context of post- and neo-authoritarian regimes
  • What ideas of politics and political and its interaction with the media are formulated by academics in post- and neo-authoritarian societies or in transitional societies in general?
  • Media structures, media systems, media technologies and journalism cultures in transition
  • Mass media, journalism and politics in transitional/conflict/post-conflict societies

Contributions may include empirical research from a wide variety of terrains, or methodological and theoretical papers from a large scope of epistemological perspectives. The Working Group welcomes also contributions that cover other transitional societies than post- and neo-authoritarian societies (conflict and post-conflict, for example). A joint session with another Section or Working Group might be organized in case of a relevant proposal of abstracts or panel.

Individual papers and panels are possible, but all proposals must be submitted online from 3 December 2018 through 8 February 2019. We welcome both individual abstracts and panel presentations. We ask you to kindly submit proposals in good time at the abstract submission site – https://iamcr-ocs.org. Early submission is strongly encouraged. There are to be no email submissions of abstracts addressed to any Section or Working Group Head.

Abstracts should be 300-500 words in length including the research objectives, theoretical framework and methodology and they will be peer-reviewed. Submitted abstracts will generally be evaluated on the basis of: 1) theoretical contribution, 2) methods, 3) quality of writing, 4) literature review, 5) relevance of the submission to the work of the section or working group, and 6) originality and/or significance of the work.

Language

This WG is only able to receive proposals and schedule sessions in English.

It is expected that each person will submit only one (1) abstract. However, under no circumstances should there be more than two (2) abstracts bearing the name of the same author, either individually or as part of any group of authors. Please note also that the same abstract or another version with minor variations in title or content must not be submitted to more than one Section or Working Group. Such submissions will be deemed to be in breach of the conference guidelines and will be rejected by the OCS system, by the relevant Head or by the Conference Programme Reviewer. Authors submitting them risk being removed entirely from the conference programme.

Upon submission of an abstract, you will be asked to confirm that your submission is original and that it has not been previously published in the form presented. You will also be given an opportunity to declare if your submission is currently before another conference for consideration. Decisions on acceptance of abstracts will be communicated to applicants by their Section or Working Group Heads no later than 28 March 2019.

Presenters are expected to bring fully developed work to the conference.

Chair: Anastasia Grusha

Vice-Chair: Katja Lehtisaari

Vice-Chair: Michael Meyen

Contact email: anastasia_grusha [at] mail.ru