Real-Time Politics: The Internet and the Political Process

Abstract

Research on the Internet's role in politics has struggled to transcend technological determinism-the assumption, often inadvertent, that the technology simply imprints its own logic on social relationships. An alternative approach traces the ways, often numerous, in which an institution's participants appropriate the technology in the service of goals, strategies, and relationships that the institution has already organized. This amplification model can be applied in analyzing the Internet's role in politics. After critically surveying a list of widely held views on the matter, this paper illustrates how the amplification model might be applied to concrete problems. These include the development of social networks and ways that technology is used to bind people together into a polity.

New Media Development in Africa

“…As a means of communication, the Internet can assist activists to mobilize participation by augmenting existing communication methods and overcoming their limitations. The notion that the Internet signifies a radical break with the old ways in which society will be ordered, has however been amended by those proposing the theory of "amplification" (see Agre, 2002;Brants, 2002), contending that the Internet will serve to enlarge and accelerate processes already in place in societies and organisations, rather than creating entirely new forces. Agre (2002:315-316) asserts that rather than a revolutionising force, the Internet is embedded in larger networks of societal processes and amplifies existing social forces when appropriated for use by participants in the communication process.…”

“…doi: 10.5789/1-1-45 new media technologies facilitate formal political participation (so-called "e-governance"), but they also provide the means for social movements, activist groupings or minority groups to engage with these processes on a global level (see Agre, 2002;Arnold & Plymire, 2000;Lax, 2000;Mason, 2001:96;Struwig & Conradie, 2003). As Rheingold (2003) points out, new media technologies bring about interactive, "many-to-many" communication that have provided opportunities (and problems) for activists in three key areas: dissemination of alternative news; creating virtual public spheres; and organizing collective political action.…”

Everyday political talk in the Internet-based public sphere

“…As Agre (2002) explains, "Conventional markers of social difference (gender, ethnicity, age, rank) are likewise held to be invisible, and consequently it is contended that the ideas in an online message are evaluated without the prejudices that afflict face-to-face interaction" (p. 314). However, these same liberating characteristic were viewed by others in a less promising light.…”

Governance and Democratic Procedures in the Information Society Era

“…Furthermore, all positive suggestions regarding the role of new technologies as a tool, which will be able to decrease the democratic deficit, the political jostle and apathy, the effective application of ICT in political procedures should be viewed separately by each country, not in a general (international) political frame [16] . Even though there must be certain rulesstatutes, so as to achieve a successful access and participation to the political procedures, there are still no apparent alterations about the growth of participation in the reduction of the democratic deficit.…”