The Internet, political participation, and e-government in comparative perspective

This dissertation addresses three important questions, together with optimistic and pessimistic views, about people's access/use of the Internet, its ability to promote their participation in politics, and its role in government provision of information and public services. Chapter Two addresses the question of the determinants of people's access to and their use of the Internet. Chapter Three addresses the question of, if people have access to the Internet, then how are they using it in terms of various types of political activities? Chapter Four investigates the factors that affect the distribution of e-government as a tool to provide information and public services.The above three questions are addressed by analyzing multiple models and aggregate- or-individual-level datasets collected most recently through 2008 and categorized in terms of three groups of countries - all countries together, OECD countries and non-OECD countries. The analyses tend to show that composite models or technology models tend to provide better overall explanations than do political-policy or social models of Internet access/use and of e-government. The analyses also show that Internet use affects people's participation in electoral politics and/or non-electoral politics. These overall results suggest that research that relies on social-economic variables and/or tries to impose a single model on all countries and their citizens can produce only partial explanations. The results also help to identify areas that can improve Internet access/use and Internet-based interactions between citizens and their governments.