The Australian public and politics on-line: Reinforcing or reinventing representation?

Gibson, R; Lusoli, W; Ward, SJ

Abstract

Fears for the health of representative politics in advanced industrial
democracies have gained prominence in recent years with observers pointing
to a growing body of evidence that citizens are disengaging from formal
politics. One of the solutions put forward to address these perceived
problems is the incorporation, by politicians, of new communication
channels, such as the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW). To date,
however, attention has focused largely on the supply-side of on-line
engagement by politicians rather than on levels of demand and actual use
among citizens. This article provides a ‘bottom– up’ perspective to the debate
in the Australian context, looking at the e-democracy and, particularly,
e-representation debate from the public’s viewpoint. Specifically, we address
two questions: how much support do such e-initiatives attract? And can
they bring about the mobilisation of less politically engaged groups? Our
findings show that although Australians broadly support the roll-out of
e-representation tools, current interaction levels are low. Second, although
they may have the potential to engage some younger people in the political
process, widespread mobilisation is unlikely to occur in the near future.

Citation

Gibson, R., Lusoli, W., & Ward, S. (2008). The Australian public and politics on-line: Reinforcing or reinventing representation?. Australian Journal of Political Science, 43(1), 111-131. https://doi.org/10.1080/10361140701842607

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2008
• Deposit Date: Dec 21, 2011
• Journal: Australian Journal of Political Science
• Print ISSN: 1036-1146
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 43
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 111-131
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10361140701842607
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10361140701842607