What are the conditions for online participation in politics?

A number of studies in the area of political participation show distinct differences in how the population exploits the opportunity to make active use of the Internet – a form of „participation divide“ opens up (Hargittai & Walejko, 2008). Quite frequently this divide runs along socio-demographic lines such as age, gender and status. Therefore, not all citizens participate with the same probability or frequency – a finding that applies in equal measure to online and offline worlds. Demographic characteristics prove helpful in predicting the likelihood of political interest and participation (Best & Krueger, 2005). Using Great Britain as an example, di Gennaro and Dutton (2006) show that online and offline political participation overlap significantly – but fall short of complete congruence. Kaufhold et al. (2010) indicate that persons involved in online participation tend be more biased and exhibit less trust in traditional media compared with those who participate offline.

Current studies reveal substantial differences in terms of education: In the United States, political participation ranges between 10% for persons without high school graduation to 50% among college graduates (Smith, 2013). There are also clear dividing lines when it comes to age and income. A respectable 44% of the population in the United States aged 18-24 are politically involved on the Internet, while the figure drops to just half, or 22%, in the group aged over 65. Similar tendencies are revealed in a consideration of political participation in social networks such as Facebook. Age and education play significant roles here, also: While only 23% of persons without school leaving qualifications are politically active, the number of politically active college graduates is more than half (51%).

Like in the United States, there are also substantial differences between the social milieus in Germany. Younger age groups are far more likely to be involved online, while the older generation participates offline. But the group of young, politically interested persons in particular (aged 16-29) is quite prone to combining online and offline engagement. Hence it would be incorrect to assert that online participation is crowding out offline engagement. Instead they are complementary. The relatively small group of „political net activists“ tends to be male, young, well-educated and in a high income bracket (Köcher & Bruttel, 2011, p. 50). Therefore, the findings on political participation outside the Net and on Internet use in general are confirmed (DIVSI, 2012).

Internet-based activism platform "AVAAZ"

Example 5: The Internet-based activism platform „AVAAZ“ organises political campaigns around the world. Currently it is the largest and most influential network of online activists – most of them young.

In addition to demographic factors, the study also considered aspects such as political interest, political self-belief (i.e., the belief in one’s own ability to bring about political changes) and political knowledge as drivers behind political participation online. It is suggested that political interest and political self-belief in particular play an important role (Albrecht, 2006; Conroy et al., 2012; Jugert et al., 2013; Kenski & Stroud, 2006; Krueger, 2002; Spaiser, 2012; Xenos & Moy, 2007; Zavestoski et al., 2011). In contrast, a study conducted by Best and Krueger (2005) indicates that digital competencies especially are pivotal to political participation online, and that civic and political competencies occupy a more marginal position. It is evident that this finding does not apply to offline participation, where digital competencies possess scant relevance and the influence of civic and political competencies predominate. Thus, the context within which participation takes place necessitates the satisfaction of specific conditions.

Trust is another important condition for participation (Uslaner, 2004). A lack of trust among users is a key barrier for participation, especially with regard to new technological applications. For instance, this applies to eVoting, and online polls; although 50% of Germans can envisage taking part (DIVSI, 2013b), they still feel substantial misgivings (Carter & Belanger, 2012). Trust is also an important factor when it comes to concerns with regard to monitoring and state control, e.g., in cases of anti-government protests (Earl, 2012; Krueger, 2005; Mercea, 2011). Nevertheless, these effects sometimes take a quite surprising turn. For instance, Krueger (2005) shows that in the United States, persons who hold opinions that deviate from the majority are more likely to be politically involved if they feel that the government may be watching their actions. In contrast, the perceived monitoring situation has no influence on political participation on the Internet among persons who support the government’s policies.

Nevertheless, despite the scope of insight described here, a significant need for further research in the area of political participation online remains. In particular there is a lack of integral, theoretically grounded methodologies suitable to consider aspects such as lifestyles, habitus, social milieus or political socialisation (cf. Jugert et al., 2013; Spaiser, 2012). Currently it is also quite rare to find a combination of various analysis methods and data sources. Empirical studies often resemble a patchwork quilt consisting of very specific questions that remain inadequately interrelated. Further, few studies so far have taken into account the (socio)psychological characteristics such as extraversion or sociality. The study conducted by Evans and Ulbig (2012) presents an interesting exception here: The authors imply that sociality plays a stronger role in political participation on the Internet than it does offline. It is equally noticeable that a large number of studies concentrate on young citizens while neglecting older sections of the population. A cross-cultural study by Xie and Jaeger (2008) from the United States and China suggests that older persons – even if they have access to the Internet – remain extremely sceptical when it comes to the options for online participation itself. This is another reason why many eGovernment services fail. Political participation using mobile applications remains a topic that has seen almost no research so far. Substantial studies on this topic are found neither in English-language literature nor in its German counterparts.