German-Language Political Blogs as an Actual Protest Practice in Context of Mediation and Conflict Resolution Postulates

Abstract

The results of a study of German-speaking opposition political blogs by V. Prabel and S. Wagenknecht as examples of relevant protest practices are presented in the article. System-communicative and integrative approaches are used. The characteristics of blogs that make up the subject and collective-personal dimensions of this protest practice in the context of mediation and the postulates of the Harvard School of Conflict Studies are described. The regularities of the discursive construction of the problem, the image of the complex addresser and the addressee of the blog are determined, their argumentative, evaluative, self-presentation and phatic tactics are used. The article shows the specifics of the formation of Internet solidarity, the reflection in the analyzed practice of the phenomenon of mediation at the level of society and the individual, including the manifestation of the attributes of the changing thinking of the subjects of communication, due to the globalization of information processes and the characteristics of modern mediation in the political sphere. The postulates of the concept of “principle negotiations” by R. Fisher and W. Ury, aimed at constructivizing the conflict, and their observance by the addresser and addressee of the blog are examined, which makes it possible to assess the satisfactory communication of the parties. The inherent features of blogs that are relevant to different conflict resolution strategies are described. The results contribute to the study of the contingence of technological and sociocultural changes and can be applied in the field of conflict management.

Keywords

• protest communication
• a blog
• system-communicative approach
• mediation
• harvard school of conflictology