Digital Divide: Civic Engagement, Information Poverty, and the Internet Worldwide

Review
"This path-breaking study in comparative political communication deserves a wide audience and is vital reading for anyone interested in the political impact of new information technologies." Press / Politics

"...Digital Divide is one of those rare works that can fairy be labeled as groundbreaking..." Governance

"It will likely become a standard in its area during the next few years." Bruce Bimber, University of California, Santa Barbara

"In this valuable contribution to the ongoing discussion about the effect of the Internet on social, political, and economic life within and between nations, Norris offers a general model to describe developments thus far.... Norris makes a valuable contribution to understanding the present situation, offers a descriptive model, and hints at future trends in an intellectually worthwhile manner." Choice

"Pippa Norris in Digital Divide presents an extensively documented, well-reasoned, carefully argued, and well-balanced analysis of the role of the Internet..." Perspectives on Politics

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Digital Divide examines access and use of the Internet in 179 nations world-wide. A global divide is evident between industrialized and developing societies. A social divide is apparent between rich and poor within each nation. Within the online community, evidence for a democratic divide is emerging between those who do and do not use Internet resources to engage and participate in public life. Part I outlines the theoretical debate between cyber-optimists who see the Internet as the great leveler. Part II examines the virtual political system and the way that representative institutions have responded to new opportunities on the Internet. Part III analyzes how the public has responded to these opportunities in Europe and the United States and develops the civic engagement model to explain patterns of participation via the Internet.

SYNOPSIS

Norris, associate director of research at the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University, examines access and use of the Internet in 179 nations and finds inequalities to Internet access between industrialized and developing societies, and between the rich and the poor within each nation. Part I outlines the theoretical debate on Internet equality, and Part II examines the virtual political system and the way some institutions have responded to new opportunities on the Internet. Part III analyzes how the public has reacted to developments in Europe and the US, and develops a model to explain patterns of participation on the Internet.