Technological Empowerment: The Internet, State, and Society in China - By Yongnian Zheng

Abstract

According to the China InternetNetwork Information Center, at the end of 2007 there were 156million internet users in China. The internet is becom- ing increasingly accessible by means of DSL, cable modems, and mobile phones, and there is no doubt that it is playing a growing role in Chinese social life. Scholars are interested in understanding the impact of the inter- net on the authoritarian government, and vice versa. Technological Em- powerment is an attempt to provide a framework for understanding the relationship between the state and a new technology. Yongnian Zheng’s central argument is that the internet and the state have a fourfold symbiotic relationship: the internet empowers both the state and society because both benefit fromits development; these benefits are dispersed throughout society; the internet has created a new systemfor conducting politics; and it has created a feedback relationship between the state and society. Zheng begins by noting that nineteenth-century political elites believed that science and technology were the keys to building a strong nation. Today, while science and technology are still seen as nation- building tools, the legitimacy of the ruling party derives from its ability to provide sustainable economic growth. The internet has become an impor-