Single Review on past events

Although he is not a member of the Zukunftskolleg – just a “refugee” because of a lack of space in the Department of Politics and Public Administration ­–  his research interests fit perfectly into the interdisciplinary spirit of the Zukunftskolleg. Nils Weidmann received a Master´s degree in Computer Science from the University of Freiburg in 2003, a Master´s degree in Comparative and International Studies from ETH Zurich in 2008, as well as a Ph.D. in Political Science from ETH Zurich in 2009. Afterwards he held research fellowships at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, at the Jackson Institute at Yale University and finally at the Centre for the Study of Civil War at the Peace Research Institute Oslo. In August 2012 he received a Sofja Kovalevskaja Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Based on this funding he started working as head of the newly founded “Communication, Networks and Contention” Research Group at the Department of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Konstanz in October 2012. His PhD students, Sabine Otto and Espen Geelmuyden Rod, also introduced themselves and their research interests in the Jour Fixe on November 29th.

In his research project Nils Weidmann analyses the impact of communication and information technology on mass mobilization and protest. It has been argued that modern info- and communication technology (ICT) is a key driver of mass protest and popular revolutions because it allows for the publication and dissemination of information at low cost. As a framework for the project, he proposes three mechanisms: First, using new ICT, people know what is going on abroad, which increases their motivation to protest. Second, ICT makes it easier for people to organize (opportunity). Third, through the increased monitoring of governments through ICT, they become more moderate in their actions and thus decrease citizens’ motivation for protest (accountability). As there is little systematic research on this topic, Nils Weidmann´s aim is to find ways to test the impact of ICT empirically. Some of his research relies on a cross-national study of internet coverage and political protest, testing whether places with high connectivity indeed see higher levels of mobilization. This analysis will be complemented with field research in Bosnia. In order to test the motivation-level (“Does exposure to Internet-communicated information affect political satisfaction?"), for example, Nils Weidmann will carry out a survey in matched pairs of villages in Bosnia (with and without Internet coverage) and analyze the relation between Internet exposure and political satisfaction.

Thanks to his training in computer science and and political science, the up-and-coming scientist can focus on a multifaceted research design: Besides interdisciplinary collaborations with computer scientists he can rely on micro- and macro level approaches to strengthen his conclusions.

More information about Nils Weidmann: http://nils.weidmann.ws/