A tool for liberty or oppression? A cross-national study of the Internet's influence on democracy

摘要

This study addressed the question of whether the Internet is a tool for democracy or oppression. To that end, it analyzed the relationships among national-level indicators on a global scale (national economy, human capital, ICT deployment, electoral rights, civil liberties, and online filtering). The results of the cross-national examination through the path analyses found that Internet-enabled participation did not significantly mediate political evolution from electoral democracy to liberal democracy. On the contrary, online filtering or censorship significantly mediated the relationship between electoral democracy and liberal democracy. Moreover, the study identified the countries that were experiencing inconsistencies between their technological readiness for Internet-enabled participation and the extent of oppression of their civil liberties by categorizing their levels of Internet-enabled participation and liberal democracy. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.