Ways that internet has changed political interactions globally - Essay Example

Your Full Your Prof Internet and political interactions Internet is undoubtedly one of the most important 20th century innovations to have had a significant impact on our way of living. According to estimates from Nielsen, as of end March 2011, the internet is used by nearly 30% of the world population – ranging from 78% of people in North America to 11% in Africa. Starting from restricted use of internet for military purpose, today the internet is so integrated in our daily lives that it is used for things as trivial as buying soap!

Internet touches nearly every aspect of our lives either directly or indirectly. Naturally then, political interactions are no exception. Internet has changed the political interaction globally in a number of ways across the entire “life cycle” of a political candidate – from the way electoral candidates reach out to the masses for proposing their agendas and for raising funds, to how they interact with the people once in power (or not in power), to how they formulate policy - both domestic and foreign, and finally even to how people oppose the government.

Internet, through its large plethora of social networks, news and information sites/blogs has become a major force in the election process globally – for information gathering by masses about the political agendas, for marketing and advertising of candidate’s visions, and for fund raising. The US presidential elections in 2000 marked the beginning of the active use of internet in the election process as all candidates started opening and maintaining their websites. By 2004, blogs started cropping up and became a leading source of information and update for the people about the electoral process, and political parties started using the internet to promote their candidate’s visions.

And in 2008, internet made it possible to overcome one of the biggest challenges of the electoral process – collecting small donations cost effectively. Until then, it was considered too costly to get the small donors’ money and was often neglected; the Obama campaign collected an estimated $300 million through small donations made on the internet and showed how internet could easily overcome this problem with the biggest cost in the process being the transaction fee on cards. The effective use of internet is also often credited for a relatively young and unknown Senator Obama going on to become the president of the US.

Internet has also changed the way politicians communicate with the masses in general – for information dissemination and opinion gathering. It allows a rapid interaction between politicians and public, and even creates a two-way communication system. The government can easily post all the relevant information on official websites and update the public on various subjects. At the same time, politicians/political parties can post updates/ideas on certain subjects/policy decisions and get feelers or feedback from the public through opinions posted on the internet – on dedicated or general websites/blogs.

While this has been helpful for most countries, it has also been a challenge for strict information censoring countries like China. With information and historical details easily available to the public through internet, the Chinese government has an estimated force of 30,000 dedicated to policing the internet and censoring out information and data that are not considered in the political interest of China.Finally, internet has also served as an effective medium for opposing unpopular moves by the governments - as seen in the recent example of the popular uprising in Egypt, where a social networking site was the catalyst in the marking the beginning of the revolution against the government.

In essence, internet has radicalized the political interactions at several levels - reduced the barriers to entry in political participation, strengthened dialogue, and permitted efficient communication with the officials. And that may not be all. Several projects are currently in progress to develop a secure and effective technology to allow electoral voting through internet. Internet has truly changed and continues to change the political interaction globally.