Politicking in the Blogosphere

Blogs are now a central feature of modern social life, including political arenas. Particularly transformative have been the “netroots”—virtual networks of activists that proactively engage in politics via the Internet and have become a central medium of political discourse. Though the sociology is only implicit, Crashing the Gate and Netroots Rising illuminate how the new technologies and practices of netroots face many of the time-honored social challenges of politics, especially when it comes to questioning the relationship between movement and party organization, and trying to balance idealism against political pragmatism.