Path Analysis On Governmental Politic Development Through Internet In The Information Age

Since the information revolution in the1950s, China has been experiencing a rapidchange from industrial age to information age. Advanced information technology nowadayshas revolutionized our society to a information age, in which people can obtain, share andexchange information willingly through internet globally. Information would be the firstfactor of productivity, and consequently the accessibility of the information resources wouldbecome one of the competing key indicators among countries. The number of internet usershas been increasing with the development of the internet. According to the29thChina InternetDevelopment Statistic Report released by China Internet Information Centre, internet usersthroughout China reached513million which contained55.8million new internet users at theend of December,2011. Also, Internet penetration rate has climbed to38.3%, improving by4percentage points over the last year.A growing number of internet users has put the focus on politic due to the developmentof the internet and information sharing. Users on internet have more influential power ongovernment behavior through multi channels such as online messages, email, and micro blogs.From “hide and seek event”,“fishing enforcement event”,“Weng’an incident” and“Hangzhou illegal car racing incident”, public opinion on internet has achieved more andmore attention, in the meantime, which has become an influential power of the social publicopinion and has played a much more important role in the social affairs. Government itselfhas followed this trend to understand public opinion through internet in order to achieve ademocratic decision making process and serve the public in a better way.It can be said that the network politics is the inevitable outcome of the information age.It has improved the communication between the public and the government, advanced thesuitability of the governmental decisions, enhanced the credibility of the government andpromoted the development of democratization. However, this is a brand new and immatureoutcome of information age. Positive significances and some drawbacks are standing outsimultaneously. The virtual nature of the internet, the education level and individualparticipant capacity do have some negative impact of the network politics. The governmentshould notice this problem and not only facilitate the development of internet, but alsoestablish necessary supervision to achieve a long-term mechanism of promoting healthy andsound development of internet.In this thesis, the definition of network politics is described and appropriate knowledge iselaborated in detail. In the meantime of discussing necessity of promoting network politics, the analysis of deficiencies and shortcomings is also covered in the thesis. In the end, thearticle proposes the government agencies to establish a comprehensive long-term mechanismto promote the healthy and sound development of network politics.