E-Democracy

The rise of ‘e-democracy’

1,668,870,408 people use the internet every day. (Internet world statistics, 2009) The internet is a revolutionary source that is used for many reasons, the most common being for communication. Not only communication via social networking sites, but also through news and instant messaging. In recent years, the internet has become an essential part of politics. According to Merriam Webster’s online Dictionary, Politics is the art or science of government, through winning and holding control over a government. Through online campaigning, online advertising and even now the suggestion of online voting, it can be seen that politics has moved into the world of cyberspace.

The internet has become a part of daily life, and is used more than anyone could have ever predicted. Is could be said that the internet has no boundaries of what it is capable of, and can reach target audiences of millions of people. With the services that are available such as twitter and other social networking sites, the age of digital communication within the political sphere has taken off. Twitter is a popular site for politicians, according to Antoni Slodkowski (2009), “On a busy day, politicians post up to 200 messages. Each consists of no more than 140 characters and in some cases is viewed by more than 5,000 readers.”

Politicians take to the internet to bring a sense of personability back to their image. The idea of "community" in the age of networked digital media has been slowly taken away, as words through a computer screen are much less effective than those spoken and viewed. In October 2007, just before the federal election, AAP General News Wire reported that both leaders were taking to the internet to discuss religion with voters. Kevin Rudd and John Howard used the internet to converse with many voters about religion and christianity. “100,000 Christians around the country are expected to pack into more than 700 venues to watch the event, which will be streamed live on the internet from the National Press Club in Canberra.” This event added to the many way in which both political leaders took to the internet to push their campaign.

Online campaigning and advertising reaches a large audience, and therefore is ideal for politicians to use during a campaign period. A survey completed by Jim Galloway in 2008 showed “Ten percent of all Americans have used vehicles like Facebook or MySpace for political activity.” He went on to say that “young adults in particular these sites are a key component of the online political experience: 66 percent of Internet users under the age of 30 have a social networking profile, and half of the young profile users use social networking sites to get or share information about the candidates and the campaign." However, Social networking sites are not the only internet sources that are viewed and used for political advertising.

The News is another wonderful source of advertising for any form of politics. Bartholomew sparrow stated that “The U.S. president, the media, and public opinion survey data all represent the American public: the U.S. president serves as the personification and symbol of the U.S. government to the press and people alike; the news and opinion publicized in the media constitute the public sphere; and public opinion polls are accepted as indicators of the public's opinions and beliefs.”

Another prime example of online campaigning is that of United States Lumberton mayoral candidate, Gene Stewart. He stated that he prefers to use the internet to connect with people as "You can only get out so much information in short conversations, but if you can get people to look at your Web page, they can learn so much more about me in a short time."

Internet voting is another idea that has been widely suggested, as more people use the internet than those who vote on Election Day. The Federal Government have been investigating an electoral reform, in an attempt to lure voters into casting their vote on Election Day. Ninemsn news reported that the federal government were investigating a “range of issues affecting the electoral process, such as lowering the voting age, who should be eligible to vote, the use of technology and fixed electoral terms.” The report went on to say that the opposition claim that voting through the internet could cause a whole new set of problems. Both the US and UK have considered using online voting, as it has more accurate results and increases number of citizens who vote. (Parliamentary office of Science and Technology, 2009


When Barack Obama was elected as U.S President in 2008, the world was at a stand still. Thanks to the internet, people from all over the world could follow the election results live online with state by state results. In the age of digital networks that have the potential to span the whole planet, the relationship between politics and the internet is inevitable. In this example with the presidential election, people from all over the world watched, even though it was not their country. Due to politics taking to the internet, people can have a better understanding of not only their local, state, and federal politicians, but also now the international politicians, who all have a bearing on the way that we live. Through political institutions such as the UN, international politician’s impact on the way our country is run, so it is important for people to be able to follow these politicians and understand them, as we do our own.

The internet is undoubtedly a very strong political institution, as it has millions of users all around the world. Through the internet politicians can market them selves, they can talk personally to people they would not ordinarily be able to talk to, they can spread their message to the whole world and the internet can also be used for voting online and census’. The internet is an integral part of politics, helping politicians to spread their message, whilst keeping up to date with new communication technologies.

Reference List

Election Centre, 2008. CNN Politics. President – Election Centre 2008. http://edition.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/president/

Fed: Howard, Rudd to address Christians over the net. 2007. AAP General News Wire August 8 1. http://www.proquest.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/

Galloway, J. 2008. Political Insider: On the Internet, politics, and GOP wariness of social networking. The Atlanta Journal -Constitution, June 16, http://www.proquest.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/

Internet World Stats: Usage and Population statistics, 2009. Internet usage and population in Oceania http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats6.htm

Merriam Webster Online Dictionary, 2009. Merriam Webster: Politics http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/politics

O’Malley, S. 2009. Nine MSN News. Online voting could be on the cards http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/866842/online-voting-could-be-on-the-cards

Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, 2001. Post note: Online Voting Number 155. http://www.parliament.uk/post/pn155.pdf

Shehane, J. 2009. Some candidates go to cyberspace; others stick with face-to-face campaigns. McClatchy - Tribune Business News March 31 http://www.proquest.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/

Slodkowski, A 2009. Politicians tap Twitter to tweak profiles. McClatchy -Tribune Business News July 29 http://www.proquest.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/

Sparrow, B. 2008. Who Speaks for the People? The President, the Press, and Public Opinion in the United States. Presidential Studies Quarterly 38, no. 4,(December 1):578-592. http://www.proquest.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/