Digital Revolution or Digital Dominance? Regime Type, Internet Control, and Political Activism in East Asia

Abstract

Many studies have shown that Internet use may be a driver of real world political participation. However, we still have a lot to learn about the dynamics of this relationship. This article elaborates this relationship by exploring the effect of different types of Internet use (including social media) on participation in real world political activism. We also explain how two contextual factors – regime type (level of authoritarianism) and the level of government control over the Internet (level of Internet control) interact and affect the relationship between Internet use and political activism. Our findings in general corroborate the expected positive and significant relationship between Internet use and political activism. However, this relationship is highly contingent on how the level of authoritarianism and level of Internet control interact, producing two contrasting patterns of relationships between Internet use and political activism, labeled as “digital revolution” and “digital dominance.” We find that one-party authoritarian regimes are closer to the “digital dominance” type, meaning that the interaction between regime type and Internet control weakens the relationship between Internet use and political activism; how-ever, in limited democracies or democracies with excessive Internet control or authoritarianism, citizens’ participation in political activism through online channels is emboldened, producing the “digital revolution” type. In democracies with little Internet control, citizens may have an incentive to participate in political activism through the Internet, but institutional rules that allow rotation of power might prevent either “digital dominance” or “digital revolution” from developing.