Review Art ic le: Pol i t ics, Cit izens and Cyberspace
Rachel Gibson, Paul Nixon and Stephen Ward (eds), Political Parties and the
Internet: Net Gain? London and New York: Routledge, 2003. £19.99 pbk, £70.00
hbk. 250 pp.
Jayne Rodgers, Spatializing International Politics: Analysing Activism on the
Internet. London and New York: Routledge, 2003. £50.00 hbk. 169 pp.
With the creation of the World Wide Web in 1993, research into the relevance, role
and impact of the Internet has had a brief history so far. Political campaigners
around the world are still getting to grips with whether they consider the Internet
to be an effective political communication tool, and if so, how best to use it.
Academic commentators are only slowly building theories to help explain what
influence the Internet has, or might have, on political systems and society. So far the
bulk of existing research has either focused on the use of the Internet in developed
democratic states (Bimber, 1998; Davis, 1999) and/or the uses of e-campaigning
(D’Alessio, 1997; Foot and Schneider, 2002; Sommer, 2003). Gibson et al. attempt
a more inclusive analysis and consider a wider range of countries. They do not focus
just on the electoral aspects of this new technology. In contrast, Rodgers argues that
the Internet could break down state boundaries and unify the people of the world
within a new anti-state terrain. Both books ask the reader to consider the practical
and theoretical implications of electronic communications for the future of
politics.
A number of commentators (Rheingold, 1993; Stone, 1996; Coleman, 2001)
have suggested that the Internet will potentially cause a political revolution either
reinvigorating representative democracy or leading to a more direct form of
participatory e-democracy. This is a theme explored by both texts, though from very
different perspectives. The overall theme of Net Gain? however, is to suggest an
evolutionary approach to the development and use of information and communica-
tion technologies (ICTs) in politics. The starting point is the link between two key
questions. First, what is happening to the political parties worldwide within
representative democracies? Second, have ICTs had any impact on their communica-
tional behaviour?
In the opening chapter Gibson et al. consider the existing literature on the use
of the Internet by political parties. They draw a parallel between the adoption of the
Internet and previous technological developments such as the telephone. They
suggest that the use of the ICTs is largely at its first stage of development whereby
it is used by parties to conduct traditional functions, only more quickly and more
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efficiently. The next two chapters introduce the overall theme that the Internet is
not revolutionary. Chapter 2 by Lofgren and Smith theorizes the relationship
between political parties, democracy and the Internet. They conclude that the new
technology has great potential to assist and develop representative democracy, but
that technology alone is not enough to revitalize participation in liberal
democracies. In Chapter 3, Margolis et al. address a hotly contested debate, namely
whether the Internet is changing the power relationship between key political
actors. Their research suggests that, at least in the US, it is politics as usual.
The next seven chapters discuss the use of ICTs by political parties in a number
of different countries. In Chapter 4 Cunha et al. explore whether there is a Southern
European perspective. Contradicting the findings of the previous chapter they
believe there is some evidence that in Southern European countries it is possible for
political parties to use the Internet to level the competition between parties. In
Chapter 5, Bowers-Brown believes that, in the UK, political parties have yet to fully
realize the potential of the Internet for political marketing purposes. In Chapter 6
Villalba looks at party websites used in elections in France since 1998 to assess
whether they have enhanced participation. He found that the French experience of
the Internet is still firmly rooted in the early stage of development. Looking at
Australia in Chapter 7, Gibson and Ward consider the impact of a party’s general
outlook and the link with that party’s use of their website to enhance citizen
participation in the political process. The next three chapters look at the impact of
the Internet in nascent democracies. In Chapter 8, Mocan et al. look at the link
between ICTs and representative democracy in Romania. Their findings suggest that
Romanian political parties use their websites in much the same way as those in the
US. In Chapter 9, Wallis discovers that in Mexico the Internet has been used as a
means of encouraging political engagement. In Chapter 10, Hague and Uhm
suggest that it is the citizens’ movement and not political parties who have grasped
the participatory opportunities of the Internet in South Korea. In Chapter 11,
Copsey evaluates the reasons why, and to what extent, the far right in the UK have
targeted the Internet. He sees their use of the Internet as a threat to liberal-
democracy, not because they are mobilizing support online, rather that it is helping
them gain legitimacy.
Gibson et al. conclude that the Internet has helped parties modernize the way
they communicate. In this first stage of party website development the focus has
been on improving campaign effectiveness rather than encouraging greater citizen
participation. This cautious approach by parties is consistent with the Law of
Disruption (Downes and Mui, 2000) which suggests that the political sphere is
always the slowest to respond to technological change. Net Gain? suggests that the
Internet has provided the means to assuage voter apathy but in this early stage of
usage this potential has not yet been reached. They hope that as we move towards
the second stage of the Internet’s development this may change.
Net Gain? provides a good theoretical and empirical introduction to political
parties’ use of the Internet. The range of backgrounds of the authors is useful as it
adds to the sense that there are different perspectives for understanding the Internet.
Given that the Anglo-Saxon countries have dominated research so far, the wider
range of nations considered provides real insight. At the same time, at least two of
the studies of nascent democracies suggest that the Internet may well be assisting
the further development of the political process by encouraging participation. The
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