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Vicky Triga

Cyprus University of Technology, Communications and Internet Studies, Faculty Member

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Address: Dept. of Communication and Internet Studies
Cyprus University of Technology
30 Archibishop Kyprianou St.
CY-3036, Lemesos, Cyprus

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Graduate Center of the City University of New York

Marcos Ancelovici

Université du Québec à Montréal

Curtin University

University College Cork

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Benjamin Isakhan

Deakin University

Johnna Montgomerie

Goldsmiths, University of London

Britta Baumgarten

ISCTE - University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE-IUL)

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Books by Vicky Triga

Referendums and the European Union. A Comparative Inquiry. (Fernando Mendez, Mario Mendez, Vasiliki Triga)

by Vicky Triga and Mario Mendez

Cambridge University Press, 2014

Why have referendums on European integration proliferated since the 1970s? How are referendums ac... more Why have referendums on European integration proliferated since the 1970s? How are referendums accommodated within member states' constitutional orders and with what impact on the European integration process? What is the likely institutional impact of referendums on the future of the European integration process? Drawing on an interdisciplinary approach, these are just some of the fundamental questions addressed in this book. The central thesis is that the EU is faced with a 'direct democratic dilemma', which is compounded by the EU's rigid constitutional structure and a growing politicisation of the referendum device on matters related to European integration. Referendums and the European Union discusses how this dilemma has emerged to impact on the course of integration and how it can be addressed.

A Consitutional Convention for Cyprus (Andreas Auer, Vasiliki Triga)

Papers by Vicky Triga

A constitutional convention for Cyprus : introduction

Online and offline social movements: an interdisciplinary critical insight

Based on the premise that societies are in constant transformation, social change is effectuated ... more Based on the premise that societies are in constant transformation, social change is effectuated through social protest. Moreover, new emerging social phenomena and social formations appear that require new kinds of theorization (Langman, 2005). At the same time, Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) are becoming more widespread and sophisticated in areas where transnational let alone global problems are tackled. That said the relation between ICTs and social and political phenomena becomes progressively more interconnected leading to the emergence of new interdisciplinary research field including the study of ICTs and social movements (SMOs). Connecting ICTs and technology with social movements also has a historical connotation since the internet has been an outcome of the politics and dynamics of the cold war on the one hand and the anti-war movement and counter culture on the other (Rosenweig, 1998)

Voting Advice Applications and the State of the Art: Theory, Practice and Comparative Insights (Special issue of International Journal of Electronic Governance)

What Do Citizens Think Of Cohesion Policy And Does It Matter For European Identity? A Comparative Focus Group Analysis

This research paper investigates citizens' perceptions and attitudes to EU Cohesion policy, i... more This research paper investigates citizens' perceptions and attitudes to EU Cohesion policy, its impact and the relationship with European identity. Discussions with 240 participants in 47 focus groups organised in 16 regions showed that the citizens of the EU have an implicit and cursory knowledge of Cohesion policy. Citizens recognise the importance of Cohesion policy for addressing regional disparities and improving the quality of life, but feel they are inadequately informed. Citizens want to have more say on how funds are allocated or governed in their area and expect the responsible authorities to improve their communication on Cohesion policy. Although many positive views were expressed about the impact of Cohesion policy on the region or city's development, only a small number of participants considered that Cohesion policy has had a direct impact on their feeling of European identity. Furthermore, Cohesion policy can also have negative effects on European attitudes a...

Framing Of Cohesion Policy

The importance of mass media in shaping citizens' attitudes towards various political issues ... more The importance of mass media in shaping citizens' attitudes towards various political issues is well-documented in political communication and media studies. Moreover, mass media play an important role in the process of identity formation by influencing individual judgements towards the community and stimulating a sense of belonging in a group. Bearing these postulations in mind, it is clear that European integration and the formation of European identity can be affected by media representations of the EU and its policies. Following this logic, this research paper explores how media represent EU Cohesion policy and whether these representations can affect the formation of European identity. To address these goals, we undertake a framing analysis of 2714 media articles selected from European, national and regional media outlets over a 10-year period (2007-2017). The analysis revealed eight culturally-embedded frames producing news on Cohesion policy issues. The majority of the me...

Organisational culture in the institutions of the European Union

Social protest through Facebook in the Greek context: the case of the 'I don't pay moevement

ABSTRACT Within a turbulent global socio-economic and political context, social protest becomes m... more ABSTRACT Within a turbulent global socio-economic and political context, social protest becomes more pertinent and it takes various forms. Online social networks are perceived to provide an alternative way of interactivity based on shared interests, political views and activities. On the occasion of the social unrest in Greece that began in 2008 and has been reinvigorated recently following the financial bailout of Greece by its EU partners and the IMF, the paper focuses on Facebook groups interested in politics. The selected groups have been formed against the imposed financial restrictions and make part of the so-called &#39;I don&#39;t pay&#39; movement. Adopting a social constructionist approach that is built upon the concept of ideological dilemmas, the goal is to explore and analyse the ideological resources that inform the discourse of the &#39;I don&#39;t pay&#39; movement, as expressed in the descriptions of Facebook groups. The analysis illustrates that social action might be triggered and informed ideologically by the everyday understandings of representative democracy rather than the financial crisis per se.

Élections parlementaires à Chypre, 30 mai 2021 (I)

BLUE, Sep 1, 2021

‘The poor have been raped’: An analysis of politicised collective identity in facebook groups against the financial crisis in Cyprus

Cyprus Review, 2015

This paper investigates the content of collective identities as constructed in Facebook groups cr... more This paper investigates the content of collective identities as constructed in Facebook groups created in protest against the haircut in 2013 in Cyprus. Given its supplementary role to offline social action, we use Facebook as a research domain and data gathering tool. Drawing on the concept of politicised collective identity we undertake a qualitative content analysis of the posts in three Facebook groups. The analysis reveals two main forms of collective identification. The first presents a rather common form of collective identity that is informed ideologically by nationalism. The second is built upon a strong anti-president rhetoric, echoing the arguments of the opposition parties. The ‘banal’ nature of such identities probably go a long way in accounting for the limited potential for collective action-unlike some of the other European crisis countries

Chapter 5 - Representations of the Economic Crisis and Austerity Politics

D irect D emocracy in the e uropean u nion : h ow c omparative Fe D eralism can help us un D erstan D the interplay o F Direct Democracy an D european i ntegration * Democracia directa en la Unión Europea: Cómo una perspectiva de federalismo comparativo nos puede ayudar investigar la interacción ...

for their comments. We also thank two anonymous referees for their extensive and insightful comme... more

The Impact Of Media Representations Of The Eu And Its Policies On European Identity

The primary goal of this paper is to review the literature on the impact of media representations... more The primary goal of this paper is to review the literature on the impact of media representations of the EU and its policies on processes of European identity building. More specifically, the central scope of the review is to discuss previous studies using methodological frameworks similar to the COHESIFY project with the aim to examine their usefulness as well as their weaknesses in order to assess how media representations of the EU policies impact on citizens' identification with the EU. Based on the existing typologies for the analysis of media effects, the last section proposes an analytical framework for a more systematic study of media representations of the EU Cohesion policy and their effect on citizen's identification with the EU.

Charting the rise (and fall?) of Direct Democracy in the European Union: How comparative federalism can help us understand the interplay of direct democracy and European integration

for their comments. We also thank two anonymous referees for their extensive and insightful comme... more

The Impact of VAAs on Aspects of Political Engagement: Insights from Panel Data Collected During The 2017 German Federal Elections Campaign

So far, research on the effects of Voting Advice Applications has been primarily focused on aspec... more So far, research on the effects of Voting Advice Applications has been primarily focused on aspects of voting behaviour, whether, for example, these online tools impact citizens' likelihood to vote or voting choices. Relatively under-researched remain questions concerning the relationship between using VAAs and other forms of political participation, such as involvement in electoral campaigns. This paper uses panel data generated in 4 waves during and after the period of the German Federal Elections in September, 2017 to examine the tendency of using a VAA to be associated with such behaviours. Results indeed suggest a positive association between VAA-use and increased consumption of politics-related media, so that using the Wahl-O-Mat VAA was contemporaneous with an increased frequency of information-seeking in other media (e.g. TV, newspapers), suggesting that the two types of behaviours might be mutually reinforcing. We additionally find a positive, though not statistically s...

Eu Cohesion Policy In The Media: A Computational Text Analysis Of Online News, User Comments And Social Media

This research paper investigates Cohesion Policy in the mass media by applying computational text... more This research paper investigates Cohesion Policy in the mass media by applying computational text analysis to a novel media dataset. Specifically, structural topic modelling and sentiment analysis is applied to online news, user comments and social media at multiple territorial levels. The dataset includes 4,000 news stories, 33,000 user comments, 3,700 posts and 19,500 tweets from Facebook and Twitter respectively, as well as comments and reactions. We discover a two-level hierarchy of descending sentiment on Cohesion policy news stories, whereby international media use more negative sentiment than EU web-native media at one level, and the national media in turn use more negative sentiment than regional level sources at the domestic level. The sentiment of user comments on news articles varies across our country cases, being mainly neutral or positive in Spain and overwhelmingly negative in the United Kingdom even in pro-European news sources. Finally, social media content on Faceb...

3_forLogLinear.tab

Replication Data for: Does mode of administration impact on quality of data? Comparing a traditional survey versus an online survey via a Voting Advice Application

This dataset (in .csv format), accompanying codebook and replication code serve as supplement to ... more This dataset (in .csv format), accompanying codebook and replication code serve as supplement to a study titled: "Does the mode of administration impact on quality of data? Comparing a traditional survey versus an online survey via a Voting Advice Application" submitted for publication to the journal: "Survey Research Methods"). The study involved comparisons of responses to two near-identical questionnaires administered via a traditional survey and through a Voting Advice Application (VAA) both designed for and administered during the pre-electoral period of the Cypriot Presidential Elections of 2013. The offline dataset consisted of questionnaires collected from 818 individuals whose participation was elicited through door-to-door stratified random sampling with replacement of individuals who could not be contacted. The strata were designed to take into account the regional population density, gender, age and whether the area was urban or rural. Offline partici...

Representations of the Economic Crisis and Austerity Politics

Political Advertising in the 2014 European Parliament Elections, 2017

Referendums and the European Union. A Comparative Inquiry. (Fernando Mendez, Mario Mendez, Vasiliki Triga)

by Vicky Triga and Mario Mendez

Cambridge University Press, 2014

Why have referendums on European integration proliferated since the 1970s? How are referendums ac... more Why have referendums on European integration proliferated since the 1970s? How are referendums accommodated within member states' constitutional orders and with what impact on the European integration process? What is the likely institutional impact of referendums on the future of the European integration process? Drawing on an interdisciplinary approach, these are just some of the fundamental questions addressed in this book. The central thesis is that the EU is faced with a 'direct democratic dilemma', which is compounded by the EU's rigid constitutional structure and a growing politicisation of the referendum device on matters related to European integration. Referendums and the European Union discusses how this dilemma has emerged to impact on the course of integration and how it can be addressed.

A Consitutional Convention for Cyprus (Andreas Auer, Vasiliki Triga)

A constitutional convention for Cyprus : introduction

Online and offline social movements: an interdisciplinary critical insight

Based on the premise that societies are in constant transformation, social change is effectuated ... more Based on the premise that societies are in constant transformation, social change is effectuated through social protest. Moreover, new emerging social phenomena and social formations appear that require new kinds of theorization (Langman, 2005). At the same time, Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) are becoming more widespread and sophisticated in areas where transnational let alone global problems are tackled. That said the relation between ICTs and social and political phenomena becomes progressively more interconnected leading to the emergence of new interdisciplinary research field including the study of ICTs and social movements (SMOs). Connecting ICTs and technology with social movements also has a historical connotation since the internet has been an outcome of the politics and dynamics of the cold war on the one hand and the anti-war movement and counter culture on the other (Rosenweig, 1998)

Voting Advice Applications and the State of the Art: Theory, Practice and Comparative Insights (Special issue of International Journal of Electronic Governance)

What Do Citizens Think Of Cohesion Policy And Does It Matter For European Identity? A Comparative Focus Group Analysis

This research paper investigates citizens' perceptions and attitudes to EU Cohesion policy, i... more This research paper investigates citizens' perceptions and attitudes to EU Cohesion policy, its impact and the relationship with European identity. Discussions with 240 participants in 47 focus groups organised in 16 regions showed that the citizens of the EU have an implicit and cursory knowledge of Cohesion policy. Citizens recognise the importance of Cohesion policy for addressing regional disparities and improving the quality of life, but feel they are inadequately informed. Citizens want to have more say on how funds are allocated or governed in their area and expect the responsible authorities to improve their communication on Cohesion policy. Although many positive views were expressed about the impact of Cohesion policy on the region or city's development, only a small number of participants considered that Cohesion policy has had a direct impact on their feeling of European identity. Furthermore, Cohesion policy can also have negative effects on European attitudes a...

Framing Of Cohesion Policy

The importance of mass media in shaping citizens' attitudes towards various political issues ... more The importance of mass media in shaping citizens' attitudes towards various political issues is well-documented in political communication and media studies. Moreover, mass media play an important role in the process of identity formation by influencing individual judgements towards the community and stimulating a sense of belonging in a group. Bearing these postulations in mind, it is clear that European integration and the formation of European identity can be affected by media representations of the EU and its policies. Following this logic, this research paper explores how media represent EU Cohesion policy and whether these representations can affect the formation of European identity. To address these goals, we undertake a framing analysis of 2714 media articles selected from European, national and regional media outlets over a 10-year period (2007-2017). The analysis revealed eight culturally-embedded frames producing news on Cohesion policy issues. The majority of the me...

Organisational culture in the institutions of the European Union

Social protest through Facebook in the Greek context: the case of the 'I don't pay moevement

ABSTRACT Within a turbulent global socio-economic and political context, social protest becomes m... more ABSTRACT Within a turbulent global socio-economic and political context, social protest becomes more pertinent and it takes various forms. Online social networks are perceived to provide an alternative way of interactivity based on shared interests, political views and activities. On the occasion of the social unrest in Greece that began in 2008 and has been reinvigorated recently following the financial bailout of Greece by its EU partners and the IMF, the paper focuses on Facebook groups interested in politics. The selected groups have been formed against the imposed financial restrictions and make part of the so-called &#39;I don&#39;t pay&#39; movement. Adopting a social constructionist approach that is built upon the concept of ideological dilemmas, the goal is to explore and analyse the ideological resources that inform the discourse of the &#39;I don&#39;t pay&#39; movement, as expressed in the descriptions of Facebook groups. The analysis illustrates that social action might be triggered and informed ideologically by the everyday understandings of representative democracy rather than the financial crisis per se.

Élections parlementaires à Chypre, 30 mai 2021 (I)

BLUE, Sep 1, 2021

‘The poor have been raped’: An analysis of politicised collective identity in facebook groups against the financial crisis in Cyprus

Cyprus Review, 2015

This paper investigates the content of collective identities as constructed in Facebook groups cr... more This paper investigates the content of collective identities as constructed in Facebook groups created in protest against the haircut in 2013 in Cyprus. Given its supplementary role to offline social action, we use Facebook as a research domain and data gathering tool. Drawing on the concept of politicised collective identity we undertake a qualitative content analysis of the posts in three Facebook groups. The analysis reveals two main forms of collective identification. The first presents a rather common form of collective identity that is informed ideologically by nationalism. The second is built upon a strong anti-president rhetoric, echoing the arguments of the opposition parties. The ‘banal’ nature of such identities probably go a long way in accounting for the limited potential for collective action-unlike some of the other European crisis countries

Chapter 5 - Representations of the Economic Crisis and Austerity Politics

D irect D emocracy in the e uropean u nion : h ow c omparative Fe D eralism can help us un D erstan D the interplay o F Direct Democracy an D european i ntegration * Democracia directa en la Unión Europea: Cómo una perspectiva de federalismo comparativo nos puede ayudar investigar la interacción ...

for their comments. We also thank two anonymous referees for their extensive and insightful comme... more

The Impact Of Media Representations Of The Eu And Its Policies On European Identity

The primary goal of this paper is to review the literature on the impact of media representations... more The primary goal of this paper is to review the literature on the impact of media representations of the EU and its policies on processes of European identity building. More specifically, the central scope of the review is to discuss previous studies using methodological frameworks similar to the COHESIFY project with the aim to examine their usefulness as well as their weaknesses in order to assess how media representations of the EU policies impact on citizens' identification with the EU. Based on the existing typologies for the analysis of media effects, the last section proposes an analytical framework for a more systematic study of media representations of the EU Cohesion policy and their effect on citizen's identification with the EU.

Charting the rise (and fall?) of Direct Democracy in the European Union: How comparative federalism can help us understand the interplay of direct democracy and European integration

for their comments. We also thank two anonymous referees for their extensive and insightful comme... more

The Impact of VAAs on Aspects of Political Engagement: Insights from Panel Data Collected During The 2017 German Federal Elections Campaign

So far, research on the effects of Voting Advice Applications has been primarily focused on aspec... more So far, research on the effects of Voting Advice Applications has been primarily focused on aspects of voting behaviour, whether, for example, these online tools impact citizens' likelihood to vote or voting choices. Relatively under-researched remain questions concerning the relationship between using VAAs and other forms of political participation, such as involvement in electoral campaigns. This paper uses panel data generated in 4 waves during and after the period of the German Federal Elections in September, 2017 to examine the tendency of using a VAA to be associated with such behaviours. Results indeed suggest a positive association between VAA-use and increased consumption of politics-related media, so that using the Wahl-O-Mat VAA was contemporaneous with an increased frequency of information-seeking in other media (e.g. TV, newspapers), suggesting that the two types of behaviours might be mutually reinforcing. We additionally find a positive, though not statistically s...

Eu Cohesion Policy In The Media: A Computational Text Analysis Of Online News, User Comments And Social Media

This research paper investigates Cohesion Policy in the mass media by applying computational text... more This research paper investigates Cohesion Policy in the mass media by applying computational text analysis to a novel media dataset. Specifically, structural topic modelling and sentiment analysis is applied to online news, user comments and social media at multiple territorial levels. The dataset includes 4,000 news stories, 33,000 user comments, 3,700 posts and 19,500 tweets from Facebook and Twitter respectively, as well as comments and reactions. We discover a two-level hierarchy of descending sentiment on Cohesion policy news stories, whereby international media use more negative sentiment than EU web-native media at one level, and the national media in turn use more negative sentiment than regional level sources at the domestic level. The sentiment of user comments on news articles varies across our country cases, being mainly neutral or positive in Spain and overwhelmingly negative in the United Kingdom even in pro-European news sources. Finally, social media content on Faceb...

3_forLogLinear.tab

Replication Data for: Does mode of administration impact on quality of data? Comparing a traditional survey versus an online survey via a Voting Advice Application

This dataset (in .csv format), accompanying codebook and replication code serve as supplement to ... more This dataset (in .csv format), accompanying codebook and replication code serve as supplement to a study titled: "Does the mode of administration impact on quality of data? Comparing a traditional survey versus an online survey via a Voting Advice Application" submitted for publication to the journal: "Survey Research Methods"). The study involved comparisons of responses to two near-identical questionnaires administered via a traditional survey and through a Voting Advice Application (VAA) both designed for and administered during the pre-electoral period of the Cypriot Presidential Elections of 2013. The offline dataset consisted of questionnaires collected from 818 individuals whose participation was elicited through door-to-door stratified random sampling with replacement of individuals who could not be contacted. The strata were designed to take into account the regional population density, gender, age and whether the area was urban or rural. Offline partici...

Representations of the Economic Crisis and Austerity Politics

Political Advertising in the 2014 European Parliament Elections, 2017

Seventh International Workshop on Semantic and Social Media Adaptation and Personalization, SMAP 2012, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, December 3-4, 2012

The Poor have been Raped

This paper investigates the content of collective identities as constructed in Facebook groups cr... more This paper investigates the content of collective identities as constructed in Facebook groups created in protest against the haircut in 2013 in Cyprus. Given its supplementary role to offline social action, we use Facebook as a research domain and data gathering tool. Drawing on the concept of politicised collective identity we undertake a qualitative content analysis of the posts in three Facebook groups. The analysis reveals two main forms of collective identification. The first presents a rather common form of collective identity that is informed ideologically by nationalism. The second is built upon a strong anti-president rhetoric, echoing the arguments of the opposition parties. The ‘banal’ nature of such identities probably go a long way in accounting for the limited potential for collective action –unlike some of the other European crisis countries.

The 2015 Greek Bailout Referendum as a Protest Action. An Analysis of Media Representations of the ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ Campaigns

REFERENDUMS ON EU MATTERS STUDY: Greece (2015 bailout referendum)

This study was commissioned by the European Parliament's Policy Department for Citizens' Rights a... more This study was commissioned by the European Parliament's Policy Department for Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs of the European Parliament. It analyses the political and legal dynamics behind referendums on EU-related matters. It argues that we have entered a period of increasing political uncertainty with regard to the European project and that this new political configuration will both affect and be affected by the politics of EU-related referendums. Such referendums have long been a risky endeavour and this has been accentuated in the wake of the Great Recession with its negative ramifications for public opinion in the European Union. It is clear that referendums on EU matters are here to stay and will continue to be central to the EU's future as they are deployed to determine the number of Member States within the EU, its geographical reach, its constitutional evolution and adherence to EU policies. Only now they have become an even riskier endeavour.

Triga, V. & Milioni, D.M. (2014). E-Strategy and Legislatures: A Longitudinal Analysis of Southern Europe’s Parliaments. In L.G. Anthopoulos & C. G. Reddick (eds), Government e-Strategic Planning and Management: Practices, Patterns and Roadmaps (pp. 157-184). New York, Springer.

Parliaments are the cornerstone of representative democracy and one of the most significant loci ... more Parliaments are the cornerstone of representative democracy and one of the most significant loci of democratic politics. A growing number of studies have focused on the effects of ICTs on parliamentary function, but there is still a lack of systematic empirical research which measures change overtime. This chapter attempts to fill this gap by studying the extent and nature of change in ICT use by the parliaments of Southern Europe, focusing on whether parliaments have moved significantly forward toward opening up their digital gates to concerned citizens. To this end, comparative website analysis is deployed to track the use of ICTs by the legislatures in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Spain, Portugal, as well as the legislature of the European Union, at three different time instances, namely 2004, 2011, and 2013. Change is measured using the ‘E-Legislature Index’ and its four dimensions: Information provision, Bilateral interactivity, Multilateral interactivity, and User-friendliness. The study’s findings show that ICT use by parliaments is characterized by volatility and discontinuity rather than continuous linear growth. Furthermore, the analysis reveals that e-government and e-governance follow different trajectories: whereas ‘Information Provision’ follows a steady but expected progress and ‘Bilateral Interactivity’ shows an upward but unsteady trend, ‘Multilateral Interactivity’ fluctuates between stagnation and retrogression, pointing to a tendency of the parliaments to avoid taking greater risk of opening up their practices to citizens. In light of these findings, ICT use by parliaments is evaluated from the perspective of ICT strategic planning, providing suggestions for future research in the field.

Triga, V. (2014). Social Representations of Voting Advice Applications: A Comparative Analysis. In Diego Garzia and Marshall (ed.) 'Matching voters with parties and candidates', pp. 129-143.

ECPR Press, 2014

The ECPR Press is the publishing imprint of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR)... more

Triga, V. and Baka, A. (2014). Protesting online Facebook groups in the Greek December 2008 protests. In L. Chysholm & V. Deliyianni-Koumitzis (ed.) 'Changing Landscapes for Childhood and Youth in Europe', pp.152-178.