Rhetoric and reality: the Internet challenge for democracy in Asia

Everywhere in the world, the advent of the Internet has been seen as a new catalyst for political freedom and democracy. Scholars and pundits have acclaimed the birth of the Internet as a new dawn of global democracy and have hailed the Internet as an insurmountable threat to authoritarian regimes. This book constitutes a serious effort to assess the veracity of these claims in the Asian context. It analyses the political impact of the Internet in its political environment on two levels: the expansion of the public sphere for a more vibrant political environment; facilitating political viewpoints and public debate on political issues. The book assesses the implications of socio-political structures on political discourses, specifically initiatives of NGOs and state governments in utilising the Internet to facilitate or hinder political participation.