Athina Karatzogianni

Fractal Leadership investigates leadership construction in social movements afforded (or intensified) by algorithm-based flows of information and viral affectivity. The book illustrates how a somewhat amorphous structure is replicated from an intimate, localised community level, all the way up to the global level with swift, almost breath-taking repetitions over and over again, from one scale to another, thus carrying new forms of leaders to sudden public mass-following, but just as quickly sweeping them away. Including original primary research with fieldwork from Extinction Rebellion and Black Lives Matter in juxtaposition with archival research of the New Left movements of the 1960s, Karatzogianni and Matthews explore how the digital transformation of temporality impacts on the ideologisation process, movement organisational structure, as well as the implicated biolabour process, culminating on the fractalisation of movement leadership and its devastating implications for class formation, and the authoritarian turn in global politics. Fractal Leadership serves as a point of reference for those interested in tracing the development of leadership in social movements from the 1960s to today.

Platform Economics tackles head on the rhetoric surrounding the so-called “sharing economy”, which has muddied public debate and has contributed to a lack of policy and regulatory intervention. The book sheds light on the sharing economy debate by offering an in-depth analysis both of rhetoric employed by sharing economy actors, and by mapping key aspects of digital labour markets. The platform is discussed both as a source of innovation and growth and as a matter of policy concern over competition, tax collection, consumers’ protection, privacy, and algorithms transparency, and the future of work. The authors show that actors in the sharing economy have not only used the narratives describing the initial phase of the sharing movement to their advantage, but have also succeeded in enlisting diffuse interests as their allies. The authors’ research draws particular attention to the predicted advent of technological unemployment in conjunction with widespread concern over the robotisation of jobs. Advocating an inter-disciplinary approach in which economics, sociology, anthropology, legal studies, and rhetorical analysis converge, this text will prove invaluable to students, researchers and economists alike.

Platform Economics tackles head on the rhetoric surrounding the so-called “sharing economy”, which has muddied public debate and has contributed to a lack of policy and regulatory intervention. The book sheds light on the sharing economy debate by offering an in-depth analysis both of rhetoric employed by sharing economy actors, and by mapping key aspects of digital labour markets. The platform is discussed both as a source of innovation and growth and as a matter of policy concern over competition, tax collection, consumers’ protection, privacy, and algorithms transparency, and the future of work. The authors show that actors in the sharing economy have not only used the narratives describing the initial phase of the sharing movement to their advantage, but have also succeeded in enlisting diffuse interests as their allies. The authors’ research draws particular attention to the predicted advent of technological unemployment in conjunction with widespread concern over the robotisation of jobs. Advocating an inter-disciplinary approach in which economics, sociology, anthropology, legal studies, and rhetorical analysis converge, this text will prove invaluable to students, researchers and economists alike.

Digital materiality (digimat) proposes a set of basic principles for how we understand the world through digital processes. Digital instruments may seem forbiddingly complex but they are based on simple mechanical principles which operate today on the subatomic scale, creating challenges for conventional human epistemology. This short book sets out a methodical materialist understanding of digital technologies, where they come from, how they work, and what they do. This analysis starts from the classical materialism of the Greek physicist-philosophers, engages with the humanist and historical materialism of the flourishing of Enlightenment arts and sciences, and extrapolates from post-humanist new materialism informed by quantum physics. There can be no future without a present and that present is always, persistently material. Readers of this book must grapple with the mattering of digital material, especially the awe-inspiring epistemological schism between the infinitesimal, lightspeed reality of digital data and conventional, empirical human epistemologies which provide the vocabularies and cultural metaphors we must have recourse to in the attempt to discuss, communicate and decypher these phenomena. The obsolescent figure of anthropos (human being) will provide a central foil and subject for this challenge to understand our digital tools and their seemingly irrepressible reproduction. The future of humanity is at stake!

This book introduces four waves of upsurge in digital activism and cyberconflict. The rise of digital activism started in 1994, was transformed by the events of 9/11, culminated in 2011 with the Arab Spring uprisings, and entered a transformative phase of control and mainstreaming since 2013 with the Snowden affair.

This book introduces four waves of upsurge in digital activism and cyberconflict. The rise of digital activism started in 1994, was transformed by the events of 9/11, culminated in 2011 with the Arab Spring uprisings, and entered a transformative phase of control and mainstreaming since 2013 with the Snowden affair.

This book examines issues of organisation in resistance movements, discussing topics including the integration of the world system, the intersection of networks with discourses of identity, and the possibility of social transformation. Drawing on a number of theorists including Deleuze and Guattari, authors Athina Karatzogianni and Andrew Robinson seek to reinterpret World Systems Theory in order to engage with issues of power, resistance, and conflict in the contemporary world. Discussing contemporary scholarship in global politics, the authors consider new and developing concepts including: global cities, bifurcations, hegemonic transitions, the relationship between capitalism and the state, the position of East Asia, and active and reactive network movements. Their analysis includes a very rich pool of empirical examples covering more than fifty countries and thirty resistance groups. Power, Resistance and Conflict in the Contemporary World will be of interest to students and scholars looking for a comprehensive new theorization of the forces at work in global politics. The book provides a framework which crosses the boundaries between international relations, international political economy, comparative politics, conflict studies, social movement studies and critical theory, producing a study of a highly interdisciplinary scope.

Fifteen thought-provoking essays engage in an innovative dialogue between cultural studies of affect, feelings and emotions, and digital cultures, new media and technology. The volume provides a fascinating dialogue that cuts across disciplines, media platforms and geographic and linguistic boundaries.

Fifteen thought-provoking essays engage in an innovative dialogue between cultural studies of affect, feelings and emotions, and digital cultures, new media and technology. The volume provides a fascinating dialogue that cuts across disciplines, media platforms and geographic and linguistic boundaries.

This book examines issues of organisation in resistance movements, discussing topics including the integration of the world system, the intersection of networks with discourses of identity, and the possibility of social transformation. Drawing on a number of theorists including Deleuze and Guattari, authors Athina Karatzogianni and Andrew Robinson seek to reinterpret World Systems Theory in order to engage with issues of power, resistance, and conflict in the contemporary world. Discussing contemporary scholarship in global politics, the authors consider new and developing concepts including: global cities, bifurcations, hegemonic transitions, the relationship between capitalism and the state, the position of East Asia, and active and reactive network movements. Their analysis includes a very rich pool of empirical examples covering more than fifty countries and thirty resistance groups. Power, Resistance and Conflict in the Contemporary World will be of interest to students and scholars looking for a comprehensive new theorization of the forces at work in global politics. The book provides a framework which crosses the boundaries between international relations, international political economy, comparative politics, conflict studies, social movement studies and critical theory, producing a study of a highly interdisciplinary scope.

The Politics of Cyberconflict focuses on the implications that the phenomenon of cyberconflict (conflict in computer mediated enivironments and the internet) has on politics, society and culture. Athina Karatzogianni proposes a new framework for analyzing this new phenomenon, which distinguishes between two types of cyberconflict, ethnoreligious and sociopolitical, and uses theories of conflict, social movement and the media. A comprehensive survey of content, opinion and theory in several connected fields, relating not only to information warfare and cyberconflict, but also social movements and ethnoreligious movements is included. Hacking between ethnoreligious groups, and the use of the internet in events in China, the Israel-Palestine conflict, India-Pakistan conflict, as well as the antiglobalization and antiwar movements and the 2003 Iraq War are covered in detail. This is essential reading for all students of new technology, politics, sociology and conflict studies.

The Politics of Cyberconflict focuses on the implications that the phenomenon of cyberconflict (conflict in computer mediated enivironments and the internet) has on politics, society and culture. Athina Karatzogianni proposes a new framework for analyzing this new phenomenon, which distinguishes between two types of cyberconflict, ethnoreligious and sociopolitical, and uses theories of conflict, social movement and the media. A comprehensive survey of content, opinion and theory in several connected fields, relating not only to information warfare and cyberconflict, but also social movements and ethnoreligious movements is included. Hacking between ethnoreligious groups, and the use of the internet in events in China, the Israel-Palestine conflict, India-Pakistan conflict, as well as the antiglobalization and antiwar movements and the 2003 Iraq War are covered in detail. This is essential reading for all students of new technology, politics, sociology and conflict studies.