The Web of Politics The Internet's Impact on the American Political System [Paperback]

Is the Internet destined to upset traditional political power in the United States? This book answers with an emphatic no. Author Richard Davis shows how current political players including candidates, public officials, and the media are adapting to the Internet and assuring that this new medium benefits them in their struggle for power. In doing so he examines the current function of the Internet in democratic politics--educating citizens, conducting electoral campaigns, gauging public opinion, and achieving policy resolution-- and the roles of current political actors in those functions. Davis's unconventional prediction concerning the Internet's impact on American politics warrants a closer look by anyone interested in learning how this new communication medium will affect us politically.

Foreword,Norman Ornstein, The American Enterprise Institute
Introduction: Enter the Internet
ONE. Communications Technology and Democracy
TWO. Surfing for News
THREE. Electronic Lobbying
FOUR. The Virtual Campaign
FIVE. www.gov
SIX. The Virtual Public
SEVEN. The Internet as Participatory Forum

A well-researched and finely detailed account of virtual politics today. --W. Lance Bennett, University of Washington

Richard Davis is Associate Professor of Political Science at Brigham Young University. He is the co-author ofNew Media and American Politics(with Diana Owen, Oxford, 1998), and the author ofThe Press and American Politics: The New Mediator, 2nd Ed. (1996),Decisions and Images: The Supreme Courtand the Press(1994), andPolitics and the Media(1994).