E-democracy@China: does it work?

Abstract

The diffusion of the Internet in China has provoked heated discussion about its impact on democracy in the country. Based on an extensive review of the literature, this paper examines the political impact of the Internet in China. It argues that the Internet itself will not be a driving force for political changes, but rather will play a facilitating role during democratization in China. This paper takes a macroscopic approach, and its main contribution lies in three areas. First, it provides a succinct synthesis of the current research on the development of the Internet, censorship, and counter-censorship in China. Second, it adopts a comparative perspective by relating the roles of the Internet to those of traditional media during the democratization processes in history. Third, it offers insights into factors that mediate the democratizing power of the Internet in China, including citizens’ political participation, the political environment, media revitalization, and international influence.