Making a Difference
A Comparative View of the Role of the Internet in Election Politics
Contributions by Diana Owen, Richard Davis, Taylor Boas professor and chair, depa, Ian McAllister, Rachel Gibson, Randolph Kluver, David T. Hill, Tamara A. Small, David Danchuk, Wainer Lusoli, Jose-Luis Dader, Marc Hooghe, Sara Vissers, Gerrit Voerman, Marcel Boogers, Sara Bentivegna, Eva Schweitzer Edited by Richard Davis, Diana Owen, David Taras, Stephen Ward
Publication date:
17 March 2008Length of book:
318 pagesPublisher
Lexington BooksDimensions:
244x161mm6x10"
ISBN-13: 9780739121009
This book is a cross-national analysis of the role of the internet in national electoral campaigns. It covers an array of electoral and party systems throughout the globe from parliamentary to presidential, party-based to candidate-oriented, multi-party to two-party, and stable party system to dynamic party system. It takes a look at three groups of nations with varying levels of Internet access—those where internet usage is common across demographic groups, those where usage has reached significant levels but not widespread penetration, and those where internet access is still limited to a small elite.
Each chapter is a study of a particular nation, focusing on its electoral and party systems, the accessibility of the Internet to the population, the nature of candidate/party usage, and the effects of the internet on the conduct of campaigns. By reviewing the findings from these studies, Making a Difference draws conclusions about exactly how the internet influences electoral politics.
Each chapter is a study of a particular nation, focusing on its electoral and party systems, the accessibility of the Internet to the population, the nature of candidate/party usage, and the effects of the internet on the conduct of campaigns. By reviewing the findings from these studies, Making a Difference draws conclusions about exactly how the internet influences electoral politics.
There are two ways to explain the impact of the Internet on democratic process. One describes the Internet's role in specific situations. The second attempts to define the concepts that help us better understand this role. These collected studies do bothand do them very well. The volume allows the reader to visualize how and where the integration of the Internet into campaigns and elections has succeeded or failed and, even more importantly, to begin to comprehend why. The breadth of cases is valuable and expansive, representing countries and regions that have not often been studied. Each country case delves deeply into the respective campaign and election systems, providing an engaging and ultimately powerful snapshot of the contemporary state of the impact of technological diffusion on democratic process..