Internet Activism: towards a Framework for Emergent Democracy

From its inception, the Internet has been touted as a tool for political change. The term “emergent democracy” has been used to describe the new forms of participation that the Internet will facilitate. However, there has been little discussion about how this behaviour will emerge, how to recognise it when it does, and how to integrate it into current models of democracy. This paper traces the technological development of the Internet in terms of human behaviour and interaction, and examines the nature of online political activity in that context. It investigates exactly what is meant by emergence, why it is important to the study of Internet activism, and how it can be used to develop a framework for optimising political mobilisation using the Internet.