In their joint research, Dr. Markus Siewert and Dr. Pascal König address questions of party-political competition over digitization and digital policy issues.

Project description

As a megatrend, digitization permeates a large number of areas of society. In this context, politicians have long been unable to avoid addressing the topic of digitization in light of the many opportunities and challenges presented by the far-reaching processes of change - from the digital classroom to more efficient energy systems, security of (digital) infrastructure, and discrimination through forms of artificial intelligence or hate speech and cyberbullying. In this context, addressing the topic of digitization at the political level is particularly important now, as key decisions for future developments in almost all areas of life are being made today that are likely to be more difficult to revise in retrospect.

The research project examines, among other things, the differences and similarities between political parties in terms of the importance they assign to digitization, the issues they focus on in shaping the digital transformation, and the social and political consequences of the digital transformation. To explain this, we draw on various explanatory approaches to party competition.

Selected publications

Siewert, Markus B., Benedikte Eiden, Stefan Wurster & Pascal. D. König. 2021. who holds the key to key technology? A comparison of party profiles in the field of artificial intelligence ahead of the 2021 federal election. Politics & Communication. www.politik-kommunikation.de/ressorts/artikel/wer-hat-den-schluessel-zur-schluesseltechnologie-1821376773.

Siewert, Markus B. & Pascal D. König. 2021. digital policy of the parties for the 2021 federal election. DeFacto. www.defacto.expert/2021/09/17/digitalpolitik-der-parteien-zur-bundestagswahl-2021/. 

Siewert, Markus B. & Pascal D. König. 2021. Becoming Mainstream? The Emergence of Digital Policies in German Regional Party Politics. German Politics. Online First. doi.org/10.1080/09644008.2021.1890040.**

Siewert, Markus B. & Pascal D. König. 2021. digital politics and party competition in times of COVID-19. DeFacto. www.defacto.expert/2021/03/10/digitalpolitik-und-parteienwettbewerb-in-zeiten-von-covid-19/.

Pascal D. König & Markus B. Siewert. 2021. how political is artificial intelligence? Cicero. Magazine for Political Culture. www.cicero.de/innenpolitik/replik-kuenstliche-intelligenz-ki-mehr-politik-wagen.

Siewert, Markus B. & Pascal D. König. 2019. on Digital Front-Runners and Late-Comers: Analyzing Issue Competition over Digitization in German Subnational Elections. European Political Science Review 11(2): 247-265.https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755773919000109.