Il Dipartimento di Comunicazione ed Economia organizza insieme allo Standing Group di Comunicazione Politica della SISP (e con la sponsorizzazione di Sanfelice 1893 Banca Popolare) un convegno/workshop sulle trasformazioni della leadership politica fra personalizzazione, potere digitale e l’alleanza con Big Tech, al quale parteciperanno numerosi scienziati politici e sociologi dei media e della comunicazione, e che vedrà come key-note speaker il prof. Thierry Vedel di Sciences Po di Parigi. Le lingue di lavoro previste sono l’inglese per la sessione della mattina e l’italiano per la sessione pomeridiana.
The workshop aims to explore the transformations that are redefining the very nature of contemporary political leadership. The process of personalisation of power is currently undergoing an unprecedented phase of radicalisation, in which the figure of the leader progressively detaches itself from traditional party ties, institutional constraints and emerges as an autonomous political brand. This evolution is intertwined with new dynamics that are also linked to the digitalisation of the public sphere.
Contemporary leadership is characterised by a series of distinctive elements, such as the emergence of “outsider” figures who build their legitimacy beyond traditional channels, through their capacity to mobilise citizens directly via digital platforms, and the construction of personal narratives. In this context, the relationship with economic elites – and in particular with tech giants – assumes a strategic significance, shaping alliances that redefine access and management of power.
The workshop proposes to analyse:
- The transformations of the profiles and careers of political leaders: from the professional politician to the political entrepreneur, from the insider to the charismatic outsider;
- Extreme personalisation and its consequences: how politics becomes an individual performance and the effects of this transformation on democratic representation;
- The role of digital platforms in the construction of leadership: disintermediation, direct communication, and the creation of “owned publics”
- The new strategic alliances between political leaders and techno-elites: resources, influence, and control of the information infrastructure
The objective is to understand how these processes are producing a structural redefinition of the rules of the democratic game and what the implications are for representative democracy: what happens when leadership becomes autonomous from institutions and forms alliances with non-elected private powers.
COMITATO SCIENTIFICO: Fabio Bordignon (Università di Urbino Carlo Bo); Nicoletta Cavazza (Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia), Massimiliano Panarari (Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia), Rossella Rega (Università di Siena), Giacomo Salvarani (Università di Urbino Carlo Bo).