In a world of polarized societies and radical voices hogging the public digital sphere, this thematic issue aims at identifying
the different strategies of old and new social movements in the extremes of the political debates by focusing on the
interplay between polarization, uses of the internet, and social activism. In order to disentangle these interactions, this
thematic issue covers a wide range of political settings across the globe. It does so by studying: (a) how opposing activists
discuss politics online and its implications for democratic theory; (b) how social media uses and online discussions foster
offline protests; (c) how the media and state‐led‐propaganda frame disruptive and anti‐government offline protests and
how this situation contributes to polarization in both democratic and non‐democratic regimes; and finally (d) how civil
society uses digital tools to organize and mobilize around sensitive issues in non‐democratic regimes.
