Making a Difference

Reviews / Votes

There are two ways to explain the impact of the Internet on democratic process. One describes the Internet's role in specific situations. The second attempts to define the concepts that help us better understand this role. These collected studies do bothand do them very well. The volume allows the reader to visualize how and where the integration of the Internet into campaigns and elections has succeeded or failed and, even more importantly, to begin to comprehend why. The breadth of cases is valuable and expansive, representing countries and regions that have not often been studied. Each country case delves deeply into the respective campaign and election systems, providing an engaging and ultimately powerful snapshot of the contemporary state of the impact of technological diffusion on democratic process.. -- Kenneth Rogerson, Duke University This book is an intellectual feast for all serious Internet scholars, especially comparativists. It describes and analyzes Internet coverage of election campaigning in twelve countries in the Americas, Asia, and Australia. A wide array of political communication issues take on new life when viewed from the perspectives of these politically and culturally diverse nations. -- Doris Graber, professor of political science and communication at the University of Illinois-Chicago and editor emeritus ofPolitical Communica The Internet is a driving force in globalization-but as this thought-provoking anthology discloses, that doesn't mean internet-campaigning is the same everywhere. Explore the online politics of a dozen nations with the estimable tour guides of Making a Difference. You'll be invigorated by the voyage. -- Michael Cornfield, vice president of research and media strategy for 720 Strategies, and adjunct professor in political management at the George Wa The analyses are generally competent and interesting, and the editors draw significant comparative conclusions from them. Recommended. * Choice Reviews * A much-needed volume examining the Internet in context across political systems. The contributors make a big stride forward in identifying how properties of technology interact with features of political structure in processes of stasis and change. -- Bruce Bimber, author of Information and American Democracy: Technology in the Evolution of Political Power (Cambridge University Press, 2003), There are two ways to explain the impact of the Internet on democratic process. One describes the Internet's role in specific situations. The second attempts to define the concepts that help us better understand this role. These collected studies do both and do them very well. The volume allows the reader to visualize how and where the integration of the Internet into campaigns and elections has succeeded or failed and, even more importantly, to begin to comprehend why.

The breadth of cases is valuable and expansive, representing countries and regions that have not often been studied. Each country case delves deeply into the respective campaign and election systems, providing an engaging and ultimately powerful snapshot of the contemporary state of the impact of technological diffusion on democratic process. -- Kenneth Rogerson, Duke University