Dennis Frieß
The Internet has profoundly transformed opportunities for participation in political conflicts by reducing traditional media gatekeeping and enabling a broader, more diverse range of voices. This shift has led to a communication style in online forums and social media that is often expressive, emotional, and provocative—deviating from traditional journalistic and deliberative norms. In this context, social media function as agonistic arenas where opposing views clash. Building on Chantal Mouffe’s theory of agonistic democracy, this presentation proposes a comprehensive conceptual framework to analyze agonistic communication in digital public spheres. It identifies five key dimensions—conflict, opponency, hegemony, collective identities, and passions—as central to understanding the dynamics of online political discourse. While previous research has often approached online communication from a deliberative perspective, this contribution highlights the value of an agonistic lens to better capture the inherently conflictual and affective nature of political communication online, and offers a new theoretical foundation for future research.
Short bio
Dr. Dennis Frieß is a communication scholar and currently serves as the Scientific Coordinator of the Düsseldorf Institute for Internet and Democracy (DIID) at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. His research focuses on political communication, deliberative democracy, digital public spheres, and the role of artificial intelligence in online discourse. A particular emphasis of his work lies in exploring how digital technologies influence societal processes of communication, participation, and opinion formation. Dennis Frieß has been involved in various interdisciplinary research projects and is actively engaged in fostering dialogue between science, civil society, and technological development.