2. Key Claims about Impact of the
Internet on Political Parties
Party Competition (possible lower cost to start a new
party)
Power Diffusion (increased grassroots control over
candidates)
Institutional Adaptation (parties adapt to the
Internet by using it to buttress their advantages, party
competition will not increase)
3. The Howard Dean Campaign
2003-2004 Campaign
Joe Trippi in charge of Internet
strategy
Early alliance with meetup.com
Early support from the Daily Kos
Dean won in New Hampshire
but ultimately lost to Kerry
4. The 2008 Obama Campaign
Extensive use of the Internet to solicit
small campaign contributions and to
build a network of campaign
workers/volunteers
Extensive use of YouTube to spread
David Plouffe
awareness of the campaign by
repurposing campaign ads
More limited use of interactivity to video
gather ideas from supporters and to vet
ideas from campaign headquarters
5. The 2008 Presidential Election
What the Pew Internet and American Life Project has
to say about it (report).
More got politic al info from the Internet, espec. online
political videos
Increased use of social networking sites (MySpace and
Facebook)
Increase in online contributors from 2 percent in 2004
to 6 percent in 2008
Some self-reports of voter empowerment but also of
worries about extremism and misinformation
6. Discussion Points (Chadwick, ch. 7)
Has the early potential of the Internet been realized
in the area of election campaigning?
Why has the United States witnessed greater levels of
online campaigning than the United Kingdom?
Assess the long-term significance of the Dean
campaign of 2003-2004.
Is online interaction too risky for politicians?
Have parties successfully adapted to the Internet?
Evaluate the claim that the Internet will combat voter
apathy.
7. Defining e-Government
“…e-government initiatives usually involve several
types of electronic and information systems, including
database, networking, discussion support,
multimedia, automation, tracking and tracing, and
personal identification technologies.”
Can be used at all levels of government from local to
national.
Goals for use are diverse.
May be useful to distinguish among G2G, G2B, and
G2C communications.
8. Historical Developments in US
U.S. National Performance Review (1993 supervised
by VP Al Gore)
Creation of government portal, Firstgov (now called
USA.gov)
Clinton memorandum to accelerate e-government
Government Paperwork Elimination Act of 1998
E-Government Act of 2002
More history of initiatives can be found on the OMB
Office of E-Government and Information Technology
web site
9. Work of Darrell West
IU Political Science PhD
Until recently he taught at Brown
University
Currently head of Governance
Studies at the Brookings
Institution
Check out his web site,
Inside Politics, for data on e-
government at the state and
federal government levels and also
for international comparisons
10. Work of Stuart Shulman
Univ. of Oregon PhD
Taught at Univ. of Pittsburgh,
1999-2008
Currently at U. Mass, Amherst
Main research: federal agency
rule-making
Founder of the
Journal of Information Technology and Politics
11. Discussion Points (Chadwick, ch. 8)
What are the policy origins of e-government?
Is e-government about better government, better
democracy, or both?
How is e-government different from previous
government computerization initiatives?
Doe e-government change power relations with
public bureaucracies?
Does e-government redistribute power within the
political system?