Cyberpolitics: citizen activism in the age of the Internet

TLDR

The Internet’s role as a central medium for political communication, citizen activism, accountability, exclusion, and ideological dominance remains uncertain. Cyberpolitics analyzes the content of online political discussion to examine how the Internet is used politically. Empirical analysis shows that diverse groups engage online, that the Internet reshapes political action and discourse, and that its influence on politics is modest compared to its own evolution.

Abstract

From the Publisher: Is the Internet poised to replace television as the central means of political communication? Will the advent of computer communication create a new era of citizen activism? Will the Internet ultimately lend itself more to political accountability and access or to exclusion and extremism? Is cyberspace truly the domain of the ideological right? In answering these questions, Cyberpolitics goes beyond the hype to analyze the content of political discussion on the Internet and to see how the Internet is being used politically. Empirical research translated into dozens of graphically compelling figures and tables illuminates for the first time Internet characteristics heretofore only speculated about: Who are the cybercitizens using the Internet, how do they participate in the political process, and who uses the Internet most effectively to accomplish political ends? The bottom line the authors reach should be reassuring to Internet utopians and dystopians alike: As the Internet grows, it will change the nature of political action, discourse, and effect less than it will itself be changed by politics. Along the way, we learn a lot about politics on the Internet and off-in the U.S. and around the world; left, right, and center. Author Biography: Kevin A. Hill is assistant professor of political science at Florida International University. John E. Hughes is assistant professor of political science at Monmouth University.