Call for Papers: Political Polarization Workshop – Social Media and Political Polarization in Non-U.S. Contexts Workshop to be held in conjunction with Conference on E-Democracy and Open Government Asia 2018 (CeDEM Asia 2018) Conference dates: July 12-13th, 2018 Location: Yokohama, Japan Confirmed keynotes: Shanto Iyengar, Stanford University Francis Lee, Chinese University of Hong Kong Workshop Chairs: Tetsuro Kobayashi and Marko M. Skoric Social media allow us to tune in selectively to the sources that share our partisan and ideological leanings, potentially resulting in attitudinal and affective political polarization. Although selective exposure has been well documented in both experimental and observational studies, with few exceptions, most extant research has been conducted in the United States. The high level of ideological polarization in the U.S. may be idiosyncratic from a global perspective, so cross-cultural investigation is necessary for assessing the generalizability of the findings. This panel specifically focuses on the relationship of social media use and political polarization in non-U.S. contexts, broadly defined. We are particularly interested in studies examining the role of social media in political polarization in emerging democracies, semi-democracies, and authoritarian states in Asia. The topics for this panel may include, but are not limited to: 1. Survey studies on the impact of social media use on selective exposure/avoidance and consequential political polarization in the non-U.S. contexts. 2. Experimental studies testing the impact of social media use on selective exposure/avoidance and consequential political polarization in the non-U.S. contexts. 3. Cross-national studies examining the generalizability of the association between social media use and political polarization. Full papers for the workshop are due on February 15, 2018 and should have a length of 6,000-8,000 words (excluding tables, figures, and references). To ensure the integrity of the double-blind peer-review for submissions to this conference, every effort should be made to prevent the identities of the authors being known to reviewers. The authors of the document shall replace their names in the text, references, footnotes and metadata with "authors" only. Selected papers will be published in a special issue of a journal (SSCI). *The authors of all accepted papers for the Political Polarization workshop will receive a registration fee waiver, free hotel accommodation, and a travel support grant.* Website of CeDEM Asia 2018 and submission instructions: https://wp.me/ptoXX-4mS Important Dates: Conference Date: 12-13 July, 2018 Submission deadline: February 15th, 2018 (via EasyChair from January 5th, 2018) https://easychair.org/conferences/conference_dir.cgi?a=17090026 Notifications: March 15th, 2018 Conference Managers: Paper submissions: Judith Schossböck, City University of Hong Kong/Danube University Krems, judith.schossboeck@donau-uni.ac.at Conference secretariat: Glenn Chong, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, Singapore, glenn.chong@kas.de