'Protest and International Politics in the Information Age' by Professor Colin Wight

Professor Wight (University of Sydney) developed the concept of “protest 2.0” as a qualitatively new form of protest driven by the emergence of new technology, the reaction to the global financial crisis, and the decline in legitimacy of the political and economic elite. The need of IR to theorise this new trend was discussed, and the ability of contemporary theoretical tools to do so was questioned. New theories are needed that can address complexity (drawing upon the complexity theory), situate communications at the heart of any analysis, deal with self-organisation by protesting groups, address technology whilst allowing for an understanding of how technology operates, and help to understand civil disobedience. The works of Nicholas Luhmann on the communications theory, adapted to incorporate human agency, and that of Manuel De Landa on self-organisation, were discussed as enablers making a useful contribution to this effort.  

The talk was well attended filling the Steve Crichter room and was followed by a lively discussion. Questions were raised over the impact of new technologies and whether they led to only a quantitative change or actually produced a qualitative change. The potential relevance of Karl Deutsch’s work on theorising new communications technologies was also raised.