Connective Action and the Rise of the Far-Right: Platforms, Politics, and the Crisis of Democracy

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Steven Livingston (Professor, Professor, George Washington University) Michael Miller (Managing Director of the Moynihan Center, Managing Director of the Moynihan Center, The City College of New York (CCNY))

Connective Action and the Rise of the Far-Right

Platforms, Politics, and the Crisis of Democracy

Steven Livingston (Professor, Professor, George Washington University), Michael Miller (Managing Director of the Moynihan Center, Managing Director of the Moynihan Center, The City College of New York (CCNY))

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English

Oxford University Press Inc
17 September 2025

Communication studies; Diplomacy; Public opinion & polls

Series: Journalism and Political Communication Unbound

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. It is free to read at Oxford Academic and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.

In Connective Action and the Rise of the Far-Right: Platforms, Politics, and the Crisis of Democracy, the contributors explain democratic backsliding in the 21st century through what it terms a cross-disciplinary engagement between democracy scholars and data scientists. The former describe the necessary social and economic conditions for a healthy democracy, while the latter tell us something about the role of digital platforms in the realization (or not) of these same conditions. In turn, volume editors Steven Livingston and Michael Miller bring these two broadresearch traditions together to define a new analytical framework for understanding the potential demise of contemporary democracy. The chapters argue that the current threat to democracy comes from the organization of illiberal movements, both on and offline. Put differently, democratic backsliding is the consequence of far-right connective action. In this process, ""digital surrogate organizations"" or networks mix with more conventional organizations aligned with conservative parties, themselves facing a uniquely precarious position in today>'s democracies. Democracy scholars, or what the editors of this book call ""institutionalists,"" emphasize the critical role of economics, elites, and organized interests and look outward into society when searching for an explanation of backsliding. The technocentric model of democratic backsliding looks to digital networks and their effects on individual-level cognitive processes. To date, despite their shared intellectual focus on democracy, there has been little overlap between these two fields of study. The chapters in the book collectively assess the effects of digitized public communication on democracy without losing sight of social and economic power structures.

Edited by: Steven Livingston (Professor Professor George Washington University), Michael Miller (Managing Director of the Moynihan Center, Managing Director of the Moynihan Center, The City College of New York (CCNY))
Imprint: Oxford University Press Inc
Country of Publication: United States [Currently unable to ship to USA: see Shipping Info]
Dimensions: Height: 23mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 235mm
Weight: 572g
ISBN: 9780197794937
ISBN 10: 0197794939
Series: Journalism and Political Communication Unbound
Pages: 336
Publication Date: 17 September 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Foreword by Daniel Ziblatt Preface: Steven Livingston and Michael Miller Chapter 1: W. Lance Bennett and Steven Livingston Chapter 2: Kate Starbird Chapter 3: Josephine Lukito, Yunkang Yang, Sang Jung Kim Chapter 4: Daniel Kreiss and Aaron Sugarman Chapter 5: Curd Knüpfer and Ulrike Klinger Chapter 6: Julia R. DeCook and Brett J. Fujioka Chapter 7: Adam Hilton Chapter 8: Christopher Sebastian Parker and Rachel M. Blum Chapter 9: Steven Feldstein Chapter 10: Babak Bahador and Dan Kerchner Chapter 11: Andrew Ifedapo Thompson Chapter 12: Dave Karpf

Steven Livingston is Professor of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University and the Founding Director of the Institute for Data, Democracy, and Politics (IDDP). He also holds an appointment in the Elliott School of International Affairs and is a senior fellow in the Illiberal Studies Program in the Elliott School. Livingston also founded the Public Diplomacy Institute (PDI) at GW in 2000 and served as the chairman of the Board of Directors until 2008. PDI is now the Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication. Michael Miller is Managing Director of the Moynihan Center at The City College of New York. A political scientist specializing in media, technology, and authoritarianism, his research examines how regimes adapt censorship, surveillance, and propaganda to digital environments. Before joining CCNY, he directed the Media & Democracy and Just Tech programs at the Social Science Research Council and served as founding editor of the Just Tech Platform. He holds a PhD in political science from the CUNY Graduate Center.

Reviews for Connective Action and the Rise of the Far-Right: Platforms, Politics, and the Crisis of Democracy

As timely and trenchant as it is informed and innovative, Livingston and Miller's brilliant, troubling volume brings together the nation's leading experts to understand how conservative political backlash and the rise of new digital ""surrogate"" organizations are rocking the foundations of affluent democracies, especially the United States'. A revelatory must-read tounderstand the political struggles happening today-and what will shape their profound consequences. * Jacob S. Hacker, Stanley Resor Professor of Political Science, Yale University, and co-author of Let Them Eat Tweets: How the Right Rules in an Age of Extreme Inequality * As timely and trenchant as it is informed and innovative, Livingston and Miller's brilliant, troubling volume brings together the nation's leading experts to understand how conservative political backlash and the rise of new digital ""surrogate"" organizations are rocking the foundations of affluent democracies, especially the United States'. A revelatory must-read to understand the political struggles happening today-and what will shape their profound consequences. * Jacob S. Hacker, Stanley Resor Professor of Political Science, Yale University, and co-author of Let Them Eat Tweets: How the Right Rules in an Age of Extreme Inequality *