Networks and Power in Gender-oriented Communication Governance: linking theory to empirical exploration

This chapter focuses on the need to rethink the way “power” is conceptualized in the global context by elaborating – theoretically and in view of empirical investigations – on the different, competing and interrelated forms of power exerted by different actors in the networked governance of global communications, with a particular emphasis on Gender- oriented Communication Governance. The authors identify the theoretical assumptions that underpin different re-conceptualizations of power, and outline the core components of an analytical framework to investigate power dynamics in contemporary global governance, suggesting how such framework can fruitfully be applied to the specific sector of global communication governance that pertain to the nexus between women and media, in view of promoting gender-aware social change. Understood as the coming together of network configurations of different actors, whose interactions should be investigated in their social as well as semantic dimensions while focusing on both offline relations and online exchanges, Gender-oriented Communication Governance offers the opportunity to introduce a methodological proposal on how to connect reflections on power with the analysis of networked politics.