Miner, Luke
(2012)
Essays on the role of the internet in development and political change.
PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.
Abstract
This thesis contains three independent chapters aimed at increasing our understanding of the effects of Internet diffusion on politics and development. The first chapter
proposes a novel methodology for measuring Internet penetration. Using IP geolocation data, a new measure of Internet access is created, which counts the number
of IP addresses per person in a region. This is the first measure of Internet penetration that is comparable not only across countries but across sub-regions of countries
such as states or even electoral districts. The second chapter applies this measure to test whether Internet diffusion can weaken incumbent power in a semi-authoritarian
regime. Using Malaysia as a test case, I find that the Internet is responsible for a six point swing away from the incumbent party in the 2008 elections. In the third
chapter, co-authored with Valentino Larcinese, we look at the effects of the Internet on U.S. presidential elections. In accordance with anecdotal evidence, we find that increased Internet penetration leads to an increase in small donations to the Democratic Party and a swing towards the Democratic presidential candidate.
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