Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Social and Political Sciences (IcoSaPS 2018)

It gives us a great pleasure as the committee of the 5th International Conference on Social and Political Sciences (IcoSaPS 2018) to say how grateful we are to hold this international conference here in Surakarta, today August 2nd-3rd, 2018. This year we also emphasise the collaboration and discussion regarding the topic of this conference, ‘Technology and Innovation in Contemporary Democratic Society’ should be done with our overseas counterpart. As we certainly believe that collaborating with our overseas colleagues would greatly increase our knowledge, as well as developing comparative studies in the social and political sciences.

As we know, the development of technology is irresistible. Lately, it gives a greater domination in people’s life in many aspects. The information technology has become prominent due to its transformation of human needs. Technology and innovation are not only related to technical aspects, but also the social one. Moreover, when the advancement of technology and innovation met with the current situation of democracy in our society, things are getting complex and seems unpredictable. For example, in some areas, the winner of regional election was the candidate who tweeted more than the other candidate. In other areas, political campaign using social media seems more effective to gain first-time voters, rather than visiting manually.

As the academics from the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, we believe that we have a significant task to host this conference, in order to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and research findings on the technological and innovation impact towards contemporary democratic society. This year there were 82 papers received by the committee, and 45 papers were accepted for publication. The papers which are presented and published through the conference have undergone a careful screening process conducted by at least two reviewers.

Finally, we would like to express our sincere gratitude and appreciation to all the speakers, presenters, participants, and partners (Jurnal Kajian Komunikasi, Jurnal Bisnis dan Birokrasi, Jurnal Asosiasi Pendidikan Tinggi Ilmu Komunikasi, Journal Indonesian Association for Public Administration) who have supported this event.

Prof. Dr. Ismi Dwi Astuti Nurhaeni, M.Si.
Dean of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences
Universitas Sebelas Maret, Surakarta, Indonesia