Communication and Political Crisis explores the role of the global media in a period of intensifying geopolitical conflict. Through case studies drawn from domestic and international political crises such as the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, leading media scholar Brian McNair argues that the digitized, globalized public sphere now confronted by all political actors has produced new opportunities for social progress and democratic reform, as well as new channels for state propaganda and terrorist spectaculars such as those performed by the Islamic State and Al Qaeda. In this major work, McNair argues that the role of digital communication will be crucial in determining the outcome of pressing global issues such as the future of feminism and gay rights, freedom of speech and media, and democracy itself.

Brian McNair (PhD, University of Glasgow) is Professor of Journalism, Media and Communication at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. He is the author of twelve previous books, including Journalism and Democracy (2000) and An Introduction to Political Communication (5th edition, 2011). His books have been translated into fourteen languages, including Russian, Spanish, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese.

Contents: Trends and theories – The new chaotics – Fifty shades of freedom: The democratic century – The globalized public sphere and the non-linear dynamics of cultural chaos – Consequences and cases – The communication crisis of democratic governance – Communication and the crisis of authoritarian control – Non-State actors, communication and politics – Beyond chaos?