From protest to political parties: Online deliberation in new parties in Spain

Abstract

The new parties that emerged following the 15-M movement and against the austerity measures in Spain want to build parties open to the participation and deliberation for all the citizenry. To what extent are these ideals being fulfilled? The aim of this article is to describe and assess some of the main online deliberative processes of the two most important parties, Podemos and Barcelona En Comu, following commonly accepted criteria in the literature for measuring online deliberation. Specifically, we have examined the two most-voted proposals from the online platform Plaza Podemos and the online development of the electoral programme of Barcelona En Comu. Thus, we have conducted a content analysis of 713 (Plaza Podemos) and 563 (Barcelona En Comu) posts. Both platforms meet the structural and technical criteria for fostering deliberation, but the external impact is high only in the case of Barcelona En Comu. The deliberative quality of the communication is good but not the criteria of reflexivity, inclusion and plurality.