Hardback
Digital Media and Grassroots Anti-Corruption
Contexts, Platforms and Data of Anti-Corruption Technologies Worldwide
9781802202090 Edward Elgar Publishing
Delving into a burgeoning field of research, this enlightening book utilises case studies from across the globe to explore how digital media is used at the grassroots level to combat corruption. Bringing together an impressive range of experts, Alice Mattoni deftly assesses the design, creation and use of a wide range of anti-corruption technologies.
More Information
Critical Acclaim
Contributors
Contents
More Information
Delving into a burgeoning field of research, this enlightening book utilises case studies from across the globe to explore how digital media is used at the grassroots level to combat corruption. Bringing together an impressive range of experts, Alice Mattoni deftly assesses the design, creation and use of a wide range of anti-corruption technologies.
This invaluable book introduces the concept of anti-corruption technologies (ACTs) to answer critical questions about the opportunities and challenges that established and emerging digital media offers to practitioners. Chapters detail the situated nature of these technologies, before examining key technologies including anonymous crowdsourcing, collaborative platforms, whistleblowing platforms and online monitoring of electoral corruption. Finally, the book offers a critical understanding of the challenges that digital media poses to anti-corruption practitioners in different contexts, and how this is linked to different conceptions of democracy.
Comprehensive and empirically-grounded, Digital Media and Grassroot Anti-Corruption will be an important resource for students and scholars of corruption studies, digital sociology, law and politics, public policy, regulation and governance, and the study of social movements. It will also be vital reading for anti-corruption practitioners and policymakers interested in civil society organisations working at the grassroots level.
This invaluable book introduces the concept of anti-corruption technologies (ACTs) to answer critical questions about the opportunities and challenges that established and emerging digital media offers to practitioners. Chapters detail the situated nature of these technologies, before examining key technologies including anonymous crowdsourcing, collaborative platforms, whistleblowing platforms and online monitoring of electoral corruption. Finally, the book offers a critical understanding of the challenges that digital media poses to anti-corruption practitioners in different contexts, and how this is linked to different conceptions of democracy.
Comprehensive and empirically-grounded, Digital Media and Grassroot Anti-Corruption will be an important resource for students and scholars of corruption studies, digital sociology, law and politics, public policy, regulation and governance, and the study of social movements. It will also be vital reading for anti-corruption practitioners and policymakers interested in civil society organisations working at the grassroots level.
Critical Acclaim
‘This pioneering study unpicks our assumptions about the benefits of technology for fighting corruption, offering a nuanced account of how activists are using new digital tools, to what effect and cognisant of their limitations.’
– Elizabeth David-Barrett, University of Sussex, UK
‘Brilliant analysis of the role and use of digital media in countering corruption. The book carefully and thoughtfully guides the reader through the material, symbolic and social elements of a wide array of anti-corruption technologies.’
– Monika Bauhr, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
‘Political power and technology may benefit society but are also readily abused. Alice Mattoni looks beyond social media in anti-corruption protests to analyze anti-corruption technology in diverse and rapidly evolving forms. She raises questions regarding transparency, social mobilization, and accountability – and also of the vulnerability of citizens challenging corrupt interests. She shows why we should not be dazzled by technology’s reach but also must understand its roles within fundamental dynamics of systemic power.’
– Michael Johnston, Colgate University, US
‘Through numerous case studies around the world, some ongoing and including new artificial intelligence applications, this book extrapolates general lessons about the interface of anti-corruption technologies (ACTs), social/cultural factors, and people power. There’s no such thing as a magic activist tech tool that “works” everywhere. ACTs must be citizen-driven, incremental in development, and adaptation is key.’
– Shaazka Beyerle, TraCCC, George Mason University, US
– Elizabeth David-Barrett, University of Sussex, UK
‘Brilliant analysis of the role and use of digital media in countering corruption. The book carefully and thoughtfully guides the reader through the material, symbolic and social elements of a wide array of anti-corruption technologies.’
– Monika Bauhr, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
‘Political power and technology may benefit society but are also readily abused. Alice Mattoni looks beyond social media in anti-corruption protests to analyze anti-corruption technology in diverse and rapidly evolving forms. She raises questions regarding transparency, social mobilization, and accountability – and also of the vulnerability of citizens challenging corrupt interests. She shows why we should not be dazzled by technology’s reach but also must understand its roles within fundamental dynamics of systemic power.’
– Michael Johnston, Colgate University, US
‘Through numerous case studies around the world, some ongoing and including new artificial intelligence applications, this book extrapolates general lessons about the interface of anti-corruption technologies (ACTs), social/cultural factors, and people power. There’s no such thing as a magic activist tech tool that “works” everywhere. ACTs must be citizen-driven, incremental in development, and adaptation is key.’
– Shaazka Beyerle, TraCCC, George Mason University, US
Contributors
Contributors include: Germán Bidegain, Anwesha Chakraborty, Philip Di Salvo, Julia Forjan, Alice Fubini, Manoel Gehrke, Oksana Huss, Nils Köbis, Alice Mattoni, Dale Mineshima-Lowe, Fernanda Odilla, Ester Sigillò, Christopher Starke
Contents
Contents:
1 Digital media and technologies in grassroots struggles
against corruption 1
Alice Mattoni
PART I CONTEXTS
2 From concerned citizens to civic bots: The bottom-up
fight against corruption in Brazil from a longitudinal perspective 26
Fernanda Odilla
3 Anti-corruption and transparency in civil society
organisations in Uruguay: the challenges of fostering an
agenda when the attention is elsewhere 54
Germán Bidegain
4 Anti-corruption ‘from below’ and digital media during
regime change. A comparative analysis of two North
African countries 76
Ester Sigillò
PART II PLATFORMS
5 Potentialities and affordances of grassroots civic tech
platforms as effective anti-corruption tools: Decoding the
story of I Paid A Bribe, India 98
Anwesha Chakraborty
6 The social construction of anti-corruption technologies:
Analysing the e-participation platform rahvaalgatus.ee in Estonia 119
Oksana Huss
7 Digital whistleblowing platforms for anti-corruption: The
Transparency International Italia case 141
Philip Di Salvo
8 Digital technology, citizens’ engagement, and electoral
corruption in Colombia 162
Manoel Gehrke
PART III DATA
9 Data practices and informative activism in the grassroots
struggles against corruption 183
Alice Fubini
10 Involving citizens through multi-platform strategies:
Transparency Watch in North Macedonia 207
Dale Mineshima-Lowe
11 Artificial intelligence as a weapon to fight corruption:
Civil society actors on the benefits and risks of existing
bottom-up approaches 231
Julia Forjan, Nils Köbis, Christopher Starke
PART IV CONCLUSION
12 The challenges of anti-corruption technologies from the
grassroots 253
Alice Mattoni
1 Digital media and technologies in grassroots struggles
against corruption 1
Alice Mattoni
PART I CONTEXTS
2 From concerned citizens to civic bots: The bottom-up
fight against corruption in Brazil from a longitudinal perspective 26
Fernanda Odilla
3 Anti-corruption and transparency in civil society
organisations in Uruguay: the challenges of fostering an
agenda when the attention is elsewhere 54
Germán Bidegain
4 Anti-corruption ‘from below’ and digital media during
regime change. A comparative analysis of two North
African countries 76
Ester Sigillò
PART II PLATFORMS
5 Potentialities and affordances of grassroots civic tech
platforms as effective anti-corruption tools: Decoding the
story of I Paid A Bribe, India 98
Anwesha Chakraborty
6 The social construction of anti-corruption technologies:
Analysing the e-participation platform rahvaalgatus.ee in Estonia 119
Oksana Huss
7 Digital whistleblowing platforms for anti-corruption: The
Transparency International Italia case 141
Philip Di Salvo
8 Digital technology, citizens’ engagement, and electoral
corruption in Colombia 162
Manoel Gehrke
PART III DATA
9 Data practices and informative activism in the grassroots
struggles against corruption 183
Alice Fubini
10 Involving citizens through multi-platform strategies:
Transparency Watch in North Macedonia 207
Dale Mineshima-Lowe
11 Artificial intelligence as a weapon to fight corruption:
Civil society actors on the benefits and risks of existing
bottom-up approaches 231
Julia Forjan, Nils Köbis, Christopher Starke
PART IV CONCLUSION
12 The challenges of anti-corruption technologies from the
grassroots 253
Alice Mattoni
