From national identity to state legitimacy

Mobilizing digitally networked publics in eastern Ukraine

Bibliographic Data

ID12904694
AuthorsOlga Boichak (0000-0001-6547-2015, Syracuse University, corresponding author), Sam Jackson (0000-0003-1845-9090, University at Albany, State University of New York)
Year2019
Volume13
Issue3
Pages258-279
Publication date2019-03-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueMedia War & Conflict (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1750-6352 • E-ISSN: 1750-6360
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1750635219829161
OpenAlexW2919947236
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited40

Social media enable broad and diverse publics to mobilize around a shared collective identity. In this article, the authors use social movement literature and studies of peace and conflict to foreground the role of platform-mediated communication in creating a national identity in a fragile state. We argue that, by affording activists with a possibility of public, yet anonymous interactions, social media may play a crucial role in conferring state legitimacy during a violent conflict. Investigating the case of Mariupol, Ukraine, where a small group of citizens employed social media to support and legitimize the Ukrainian state among the city population, the authors illuminate the use of new media affordances to construct a national identity among digitally networked publics, mobilizing support for a threatened state

Affordance · Collective identity · Construct (python library · Identity (music · Legitimacy · Media studies · National identity · Political science · Politics · Population · Public relations · Publics · Social media · Sociology · State (computer science · Ukrainian · Gender Studies · Law · Populism, Right-Wing Movements · Psychology · Social Media and Politics · Sociopolitical Dynamics in Russia

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