The book is divided into two parts. Part One, “Social Media for Democracy” includes chapters that analyze potential contributions of social media tools to the realizing of basic values of democracy,  such as public engagement, transparency, accountability, participation and collaboration at the sub-national level. Part Two,  “Social Media in Politics”  focuses on the use of social media tools by political actors in political processes and activities (online campaigns, protests etc.) at the local, regional and state government levels during election and non-election periods. Combining theoretical and empirical analysis, each chapter provides evaluations of overarching issues, questions, and problems as well as real-world experiences with social media, politics, and democracy in a diverse sample of municipalities. This volume will be of use to graduate students, academicians, and researchers, in several disciplines and fields, such as public administration, political science, ICT, sociology, communication studies and public policy as well as politicians and practitioners.  weiterlesen