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Presidentas Twitteras: The Social Media Use of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and Dilma Rousseff

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Abstract

This chapter analyzes the use of Twitter by two female Latin American presidents: Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (Argentina) and Dilma Rousseff (Brazil). The analysis proceeds along the following two lines of inquiry. First, the authors examine whether these presidents use Twitter to broadcast information in a traditional way or deploy the interactive features provided by the tool to engage in a “digital dialogue” with their followers. Second, they use content analysis to identify for which purposes these presidents use Twitter (i.e. the functions and style of their tweets) and to what extent they tweet about gender-related topics (i.e. gender policy advocacy). The study is based on qualitative content data from two different time periods (during and beyond electoral campaigns).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Democracy Studies, University of Zurich, Aarau, Switzerland

    Yanina Welp & Saskia P. Ruth

Authors
  1. Yanina Welp
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  2. Saskia P. Ruth
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Political Science, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Chile

    Tomáš Došek

  2. Institute of Legal Research, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico

    Flavia Freidenberg

  3. School of Politics and Government, National University of San Martín, Argentina

    Mariana Caminotti

  4. Organization of American States, USA

    Betilde Muñoz-Pogossian

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Welp, Y., Ruth, S.P. (2017). Presidentas Twitteras: The Social Media Use of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and Dilma Rousseff. In: Došek, T., Freidenberg, F., Caminotti, M., Muñoz-Pogossian, B. (eds) Women, Politics, and Democracy in Latin America. Crossing Boundaries of Gender and Politics in the Global South. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95009-6_8

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