Dec 12, 2011
While recent events have spotlighted the Internet's capacity to make political organization more efficient once disaffected citizens are moved to action, this paper tests another component of the Internet's potential to influence the cost-benefit calculus of political behavior: the motivation to act or organize in the first place. After introducing two of the causal mechanisms-the Internet's mirror-holding and window-opening functions-that influence how individuals evaluate their government, we will specifically consider the Internet's influence on citizens' (dis)satisfaction with the way that "democracy" functions in their own countries.