What are the uses/limits of the internet in terms of politics and/or democracy? Should we rethink the nature of the political? What happens to the nation/state in the age of networks that have the potential to span the whole planet? What has happened to the idea of "community" in the age of networked digital media? Discuss with an example.
The internet is the most interactive type of media. The internet is made up of millions of minor domestic, educational, enterprise and governmental networks that transmit information at a very high speed. The internet has been used in politics to account on the acts of politicians and also to put local, national and international political issues on the public agenda. The internet has made an intense non-territorial information flow (Srader 2006). Information can be passed anywhere in the world very fast than by the use of any other media. The internet has also extended the range of reception; information transmitted via the internet can be received by a very large number of people as long as one has the internet connection. The internet combines the audiovisual properties of the traditional types of media like television and newspapers with the interactivity and speed of telephone and mail. It eases communication, increasing flexibility, allowing people to select the information they want to access (Gibson, Paul & Ward 2003). There is also flexibility in terms of access; internet information is not limited by time and distance. It allows people to transmit large amount of information regardless of the geographical distance. Internet has changed the way people receive and transmit information, how they interact with others and they get involved with the world politics. People have a great access to vast information than was possible before. They are no longer restricted to newspaper, radio and television (Saco 2002).
Uses of the internet in politics and democracy
The internet is living up to its possibility as one of the major sources of information on political campaigns. The internet has become a leading source of campaign information especially for youths (Weare 2002). Youths derive a lot of fun from surfing the internet. With the other traditional forms of media, participation in search for political information amongst the youth was less compared to the current use of the internet (Rodgers 2003). Political aspirants can either gather or lose votes as a result of the internet. The internet is presently influencing the outcome of elections. The information about politicians and political parties freely and rapidly flow through the internet. People getting this sort of information have a sufficient time to read and analyse the information. Through the internet unlike the traditional media, one is in a position to seek clarification from the source because communication in this case is two way. Politicians are always careful to avoid any information that might spoil their campaigns from reaching the internet (Shane 2004). The internet has also become an avenue for attacking and ridiculing political aspirants. This has led aspirants to try and put some control on how they are viewed on the internet. The preponderance of campaigns by internet changes elections into reputation contests and makes the politicians to follow instead of leading people’s opinion on contemporary concerns. In this case the internet has led politicians to behave positively towards the voters. The internet influences political decisions in that it is interactive, has a rapid transmission speed and is not limited by political and geographical boundaries (Saco 2002).
The internet has enhanced democracy in that any person with a computer and a network connection can come up with news stories that can be available to any other person with network connection. This way, people are becoming more and more enlightened about whatever is happening around them (Ribak & Turow 2003).This has make governments knowing too well that it is not only the media personalities who are watching. The internet has made every person to be his ‘brother’s keeper.’ The internet has also contributed to democracy by enlightening the people on their rights as far as politics is concerned and letting them make enlightened decisions. It has made it possible for the people to know and understand when things are not going the way they are meant to go, because the internet has put them in a position to measure democracy in their countries in relation to others in the world. The public is also in a position to evaluate the performance of the government and to assess whether or not the politicians are keeping to their promises. In some democratic countries, governments have come up with websites for free exchange of ideas. People are encouraged to register to these websites, share their ideas, discuss issues with other citizens, and to have a chance to learn the political matters of their country in order to become better citizens (Gibson, Paul & Ward 2003).
People are nowadays in a position to gather in protest for what they think as unfair. This has been made possible by the use of blogs. The blogs have the capability to give anyone a voice. The blogs were meant to be repository of information but in the recent past their roles have changed to that of central hub for activist. Unlike at the times when people had to group physically in order to plot against social injustices, currently they can organize protests through the Internet. The public can also gather through the internet to campaign against politicians and political parties that they are against (James 2002).
The public can easily participate in politics via internet. They have gained more access to information and can have their voices heard into the political arena through the bulletin boards, websites and listservs (Holt 2004). The internet by its ability to store vast amount of information and ease in navigation and search, enable electorates to search through for information on elections, political aspirants and their political parties. Currently, internet is being utilised by many political groups to carry out internet activism. Internet has caused the politicians to have more reason to communicate directly with the electorates. In this case internet has made political campaigns more honest. Internet has increased partisanship. People utilise Internet to assists them in locating and joining groups that share their ideologies, culture and lifestyle preferences (James 2002).
Internet has influenced voting results during elections, because it has enhanced information about candidates and political parties. The internet can also increase voter participation in elections by stimulating their interest in the elections (Gibson, Paul & Ward 2003).
The use of the internet in seeking donations for political campaigns is on the rise. It has proven to be a very decisive force in politics. For example, the United States presidential campaign of Howard Dean in 2004 came to be the most famous in generating the most donations through the internet (Srader 2006). There has been increased ability to tap the enthusiasts and funds from supporters through the development of highly developed software that are used on the World Wide Web. This method of seeking funds for campaigns has become better than the paper checks because internet is not limited to space or amounts. Another reason is that online donation information automatically gets transferred to the database simplifying the process of accounting and reporting (Holt 2004).
People are nowadays aware of different political views not only locally but internationally. Internet opens doors to not only local but international politics. The world politics is changing very fast but the internet has made it possible to keep track with the changes. Politics as well as other issues affecting countries is becoming global. Political issues are comparable and whatever is happening in one country affects the rest of the world. The internet has enabled information to flow globally. Gone are the days when countries used to operate as separate entities. In the modern world, political decisions in a country are closely monitored the world over. If the political decisions are unfavourable, criticism emanates from all parts of the world (Boldt 2001).
Identity politics has been inspired by the internet in two dimensions. Directly it does so by alienating and weakening the regional sphere which heartens sub-regional and trans-regional tribes or other groupings to get together for a common goal. Indirectly it does so by counter reacting against the dissolving of boundaries done by the Net as a way of re-establishing stronger boundaries. The counter-reactions are likely to dominate the globe in the 21st century politics (Naim 2004).
Need for change in politics
There is a need to change the politics to adjust to the digital age. The political change has been motivated by the increase in the use of internet. Almost every aspect of the society, economy, social life etc has gone digital. Politics cannot be left behind. It is obvious that changes in technology affect electoral behaviour (Boldt 2001).
Change of the idea of ‘community’ in the age of networked digital media
The world is changing very fast as a result of the internet connections from a world, in which people were connected by standing face to face into a world where time and distance are no longer a consideration in forming social relations. The transition from the traditional community to digital community is happening at a very fast rate with more and more people being able to access the internet (Naim 2004). Social networking has changed the traditional idea of community which was limited by geographical boundaries. Social networking services have created online communities of individuals, who can share interests and activities without boundary limitations. The internet has changed the culture from a world where information came from a few well-known sources to a world where people can speak with anyone regardless of the distance. Social networking has also led to emergence of new forms of socialisation and interactions. The social networks have allowed people to get new acquaintances, business associates. This can be likened with the traditional forms like going for business cocktail parties, and participating in social clubs, but in this case without leaving the house. Social networking has transformed the tradition social relationships a great deal (Cheong 2007).
Social networking has enabled people to reach personal home pages within a particular network, linking themselves with other like-minded persons. They have also allowed people to delete or add items to their home pages to incorporate new personal profiles that others can access. It has made it possible to get a large circle of existing connections, especially for sites like facebook that allows people to use their own names, and to enable interactions among large subsisting groups of people (Naim 2004). Sites like (meet-up.com) have changed the traditional way of meeting to deliberate particular issues. They enable wider communication of existing groups for face-to-face meeting. It has cut out traveling for long distances for meetings (Boldt 2001).
In the traditional community, children used to be taught about their own society. They also had relationships and friends only around their community. Traveling around was a dream that to most was never realized. Even those who were able to travel around could not be in a position to cover the whole world. The internet has helped the children in exploring and learning the world around them. With a click of a button they can ‘travel’ to all those places they dream of visiting (Jain 2003).
Internet’s effects on the nation/state concept into globalization
The internet has challenged the existing institutions and powerful interests. Even though the technology was global, the economic and business development was cast in the perspective of the existing national institutions (Sullivan 2002). This is not the case any more. Taking the example of nations like France, India, United States, and Sweden, the rise in the Internet use has changed national institutions. The effects of the broad cultural change on the entrepreneurial aspirations are clearly evident in nations like India and Sweden.
The growth of the internet has created the concept of a global village. It has become very easy by means of the internet to navigate through the world online. There is the Globalisation of finance, governance and trade. This is because the internet has become a powerful tool in the world’s economy. Nowadays it is possible to do business at any level without any limitations. The internet has decreased the cost while increasing the speed of transmission of “information goods” (Owen & Davis 2008). The internet has enabled the world to move from industrial to information economy. There is great access to global communication infrastructure led by the establishment of new businesses and economic opportunities. The development in the internet technology changed the traditional context of the factors of production, capital and labor being the only determinants of economy. Today the power of economy is associated with the power to control and manipulate information (Cheong 2007).
Conclusion
The world is getting smaller and smaller as the use of internet grows. Internet has proven to be a globe-spanning technology that has taken hold very fast. The world is in the midst of a complete transformation into a digital global village where answers are never more than a Google search and almost every person around the world is just a click away. There is therefore need for the countries all over the world to move with the changes failure to which they will be left far behind.
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