Citizens go online Probing the political potential of the Internet Galaxy Giovanni Navarria A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Westminster for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy London August 2009 The candidate confirms that the work submitted is his own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. CITIZENS GO ONLINE | ii A Luciano, Erina e Marcella GIOVANNI NAVARRIA CITIZENS GO ONLINE | iii Acknowledgements I would have never finished this dissertation without the help, the guidance, and the friendship of John Keane, my supervisor and mentor. My debt towards him goes beyond the strict boundaries of this thesis. He has been a constant point of reference and support; I have learned from him much more than I ever expected. Grazie mille. Many thanks to everyone at the Centre for Study of Democracy, starting with my second supervisor Simon Joss for his suggestions and support. To Charlotte Reagan, Patrick Burke, Dan Greenwood, David Chandler, Aidan Hehir, Tom Moore, Liza Griffin, Paulina Tambakaki, Suzy Robson, Ali Paya, Maria Holt, and Harriet Evans, grazie!: thanks to your presence the Centre (and the nearby Yorkshire Grey!) sometimes felt like a second home. A special thanks goes to Maria Fotou, the first friend I made at CSD. Maria has been always there when I needed help desperately (efharisto poli!). And muchas gracias to Javier Gomez-Arribas whose friendship has more than once supported me when things seemed blue. Thanks to everyone at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung. If I managed to finish the dissertation is because I spent few but very productive months at the WZB. Of the many academics I have met and had a positive influence on the thesis and on my PhD experience, two deserve a special mention: Michael Schudson (Columbia University) for discussing with me some of the main ideas of the thesis; and Natalie Fenton (Goldsmith College) whose advices about the academic world were priceless. My deepest gratitude to all those people whose relentless affection for me has made everything easier: (in random order) Adriano (if London had you what a place would be!); Donatella (studying at University without you is not the same, but I am happy you are around once again); Fabio (pity we always live so far apart!); Marian (muchas gracias, you made me smile a lot when I needed it the most); Ana (you are a real good friend!); Luca (London would be unbearable without you); Lea (our long walks through Hampstead Heat are always refreshing, mange tak.); Andrea (I hope you finish soon as well…great to know you!); Max (your are in some ways the reason why I ended up doing a PhD, our random chats at the Eagle in Dublin led me here; thanks for the many critical advices you gave me along the way); and Tanja (our conversations are always a great pleasure; as is our rambling around London - hvala lepa). A thanks apart goes to Susanne: your presence and your exceptional understanding of my difficult situation in the last few months have been a constant source of strength for me. Vielen dank! My deepest Love to my family without whose continuous support my life would be much more difficult. Andrea, Sara, Mimma, Piero, and Rosy what a great lot you are! Gino and John without your crucial support I would have never been able to start this adventure. My eternal gratitude to Marcella (my best friend… and also my sister) whose unconditional love always amazes me: it seems to know no limits. Thanks to Luciano and Erina, simply put: the best parents a son can wish for. And thanks a million to Max (the engineer) and Jordy (the destroyer): your contagious laughter and joyous love are a source of endless delight for me; you always make me the proudest uncle in the world. GIOVANNI NAVARRIA CITIZENS GO ONLINE | iv Abstract This dissertation critically develops the proposition that the Internet provides a framework that offers unprecedented opportunities for individuals and groups to engage with the political process by challenging existing power holders. It explores the complex relationship between the Internet, the changing dynamics and meanings of power, and the wider role citizens can play in network- enhanced political spheres. The dissertation questions a conventional line of interpretation of the political relevance of the Internet: the view that Internet networks are tools that basically enhance governments’ power of control over their citizens. While distinct traces of evidence for this view can be found, especially in states that rely on autocratic forms of government, closer inspection shows, particularly in countries obeying the rules of democracy, that average citizens are increasingly successful in using the Internet to alter in their favour the dynamics of prevailing power relations. This study argues that there are three combined factors that are driving this trend. First, the network’s structure is intrinsically resistant to total control by a few actors. Secondly, attitudinal change is occurring among individuals and groups, so that with the expansion of the Internet Galaxy, new standards for judging the quality of political participation are being adopted, above all because the potential reach of political action is transcending the limits of traditional practices of citizenship. Finally, this dissertation explains that we are witnessing the birth of a new form of power, one that I call power as shared weakness (PSW). At the base of this new concept of power is the idea that within the decentralised and ethereal environments that emerge from distributed electronic networks, power relations are influenced by two distinct variables: structural weakness and consciousness of that weakness. The power to do things and achieve certain ends in the Internet Galaxy is directly proportional to the degree of knowledge the actors involved in a power struggle have of those two variables. The particular dynamics that inform the many examples of power contestations analyzed here suggest in fact that the Internet Galaxy is a peculiar organizational setting within which the intrinsic quality of power struggle is based on a collectively shared sense of weakness that affects the whole galaxy; that is, power springs from the recognition that within this galaxy, no one is ever in the position to dominate it fully. Such shared knowledge, this dissertation argues, becomes a powerful enabler (the gestalt switch) of new bold and irreverent forms of resistance that through the use of the Internet (and, at large, the whole gamut of new communication media) stand in strong contrast with traditional patterns of domination. GIOVANNI NAVARRIA CITIZENS GO ONLINE | v Table of contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................. III ABSTRACT ................................................................................................ IV CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ........... 1 CHAPTER 2 THE GALAXY’S INFRASTRUCTURE: FROM THE ARPANET TO THE INTERNET.......................................... 32 CHAPTER 3 THE PROBE, THE MAP, THE EXPLORERS ..................... 70 CHAPTER 4 STATE-POWER IN THE AGE OF THE INTERNET: THE CASE OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA.......... 108 CHAPTER 5 THE UNITED KINGDOM AND THE INTERNET GALAXY .............................................................................................. 129 CHAPTER 6 THE WEAKNESS PARADIGM ......................................... 165 CHAPTER 7 THE E-CHALLENGE TO DEMOCRACY......................... 180 CHAPTER 8 HOW THE INTERNET WON THE 2008 US PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN ........................................... 205 CHAPTER 9 THE TALKING CRICKET AND THE MEDIA TYCOON237 CHAPTER 10 CONCLUSIONS: POWER AS SHARED WEAKNESS.... 289 APPENDIX A A NOTE ON METHOD....................................................... 306 APPENDIX B SELECTED GLOSSARY OF TERMS ............................... 311 APPENDIX C MOVE ON ........................................................................... 315 APPENDIX D BEPPEGRILLO.IT............................................................... 319 REFERENCES .............................................................................................. 321 GIOVANNI NAVARRIA CITIZENS GO ONLINE | vi List of Figures Figure 1 - Gutenberg and Printing Press ............................................................ 6 Figure 2 - Partial Map of the Internet - 2005 ................................................... 18 Figure 3 - Earth from Voyager 1 – 1990, a pale blue dot................................. 31 Figure 4 - Sputnik 1 - 1957 ............................................................................. 34 Figure 5 - Vanguard 1 - 1958 ........................................................................... 34 Figure 6 - J. C. R. Licklider.............................................................................. 37 Figure 7 - General Electric 225 - 1964............................................................. 40 Figure 8 - A Time-Sharing System .................................................................. 40 Figure 9 - Types of Networks........................................................................... 45 Figure 10 - Baran’s Message Block ................................................................. 47 Figure 11 -