The rise of network politics has promoted the political development of China.
Network politics is the further development and embodiment of realistic political phenomena and political processes in the network world with the network as the medium. On the positive side, network politics will promote the transformation of China's political culture, the process of citizens' political socialization in China, the rationalization of the relationship between China and society and the reform of China's political system.
Keywords: network politics; Political development; Political participation
Political development is a positive political change in the political field in the process of developing countries' transformation from traditional society to modern society, and it is a process in which the political system of developing countries has changed from imperfect and unstable to perfect and stable. To a great extent, the political development of contemporary China is a process of political modernization linked with China's socialist modernization, a positive change and progress in China's political field, and a process of deepening political democratization, improving political integrity, political stability and political efficiency in contemporary China. At present, the rise of network politics can play a very important role in promoting the political development of China.
First of all, the rise of network politics contributes to the transformation of China's political culture.
Political culture is a set of relatively stable political attitudes, beliefs and feelings formed by people in a specific region in long-term social, economic and political activities. American scholar Gabriel &; MiddotA & ampmiddot almond and Sidney & middot Sidney Verba think:&; The word ldquo political culture represents a special political orientation, that is, the views on the political system and various parts of the system, as well as the attitude towards the self-role in the system. & rdquo [1] Political culture affects people's political attitudes and shapes people's political behavior patterns, which will have a great impact on a country's political development. Western scholars' transnational comparative research and modernization research show that the differences between traditional society and modern society are not only reflected in institutional arrangements, but also in political culture. The good operation of democratic political system needs democratic political culture. Active and healthy political culture is an important foundation of political development, and the changes of political culture are of great significance to political development. American scholar Robert &; Robert D. Putnam, middot, through the investigation of institutional changes in various regions of Italy since 1970s, found that social environment and historical conditions have a profound impact on the effectiveness of the system. The historical soil in a region is fertile, and the more nutrients people there draw from tradition; And if the nutrition of history is poor, the new system will be frustrated. [2]
The typical feature of China's traditional political culture is non-participation. China's traditional political culture has a strong concept of unity and monarchical power, which greatly annihilates people's subjective consciousness and individual freedom, making it difficult for liberal democracy to germinate in China's social matrix. In China's more than two thousand years of absolute monarchy, both urban and rural areas were &; Ldquo Wangtu rdquo Both citizens and farmers are&; Ldquo the right person. Or & rdquo. In China's ancient autocratic society, the concepts of citizen, autonomy, sovereignty, freedom and democracy simply did not exist. In the process of the relatively stable development of monarchy, traditional political culture has gradually condensed into a stable value system, dispersed in all fields of social and political life, and passed down from generation to generation through various cultural forms and socialized channels. [3] After the founding of New China, many negative factors in traditional political culture still have a profound impact. Obviously, the non-participation of China's traditional political culture and some negative factors do not match the active participation political culture required by China's political development.
The rise of network politics is a great impact on this non-participatory political culture, which is conducive to the transformation of China's non-participatory traditional political culture into participatory modern political culture. The rise of online politics provides an extremely convenient and cheap way for citizens to participate in politics. To participate in the discussion of state affairs through the Internet, only one computer is needed, the Internet is turned on, and a certain online fee is borne, which greatly reduces the cost of citizens' participation in politics and mobilizes citizens' enthusiasm for participation in politics. The equality of network communication and anonymity in the process of participation enable participants in network politics to participate in political life freely, independently and equally. The openness of network politics greatly lowers the threshold of citizens' political participation, strengthens citizens' democratic consciousness, and enables network political participants to truly experience the democracy of modern political life. Research shows that the democratic spirit of network participants is stronger than that of ordinary citizens. [4] The network can make the information transmission unrestricted by time and space, improve the interactivity of participants in the political process, and enable participants to get a good interactive feeling in the process of political participation, thus greatly improving citizens' interest in political participation. At present, the development speed of e-government and e-party affairs in China has been greatly accelerated. Many times, citizens can visit the websites of party and government departments at all levels very smoothly, get relevant information of party and government departments, express their views and suggestions on some electronic forums of party and government departments, and supervise the work of party and government departments. At the same time, the development of e-government and e-party affairs makes it much more convenient and easier for citizens to communicate with party and government leaders through the Internet than before, which greatly weakens the hierarchical concept under the bureaucratic system, improves citizens' political communication and political participation ability, and stimulates citizens' enthusiasm for political participation. If we say that in the process of modern political development, there is a trend from elite politics to civilian politics, then the development of network politics has undoubtedly accelerated this process. At the same time, cyberspace is the intersection of various cultures. In cyberspace, the mutual infiltration, agitation and influence of various cultures will inevitably lead to changes in political culture, and eventually form a new political culture that is more advanced and represents the direction of social progress. [5]
In a word, the rise of network politics provides a very convenient and cheap channel for citizens' political participation, promotes citizens' enthusiasm for political participation, improves citizens' interest in political participation, and cultivates citizens' initiative in political participation, which will certainly play an important role in reversing the non-participation of traditional political culture in China and promoting the development of modern participatory political culture.
Second, the rise of network politics contributes to the political socialization of China citizens.
Political socialization is a process in which social members gradually acquire political knowledge and political ability through political life and practice on the basis of political practice under specific social and political relations and conditions, and form political consciousness and political stance. American scholar Gabriel &; MiddotA & ampmiddot almonds and small G &；; Middot Bingham &; G. Bingham Powell, Jr. of middot believes that the political socialization of ldquo is the process of the formation, maintenance and change of political culture. Every political system has some structures that perform the function of political socialization. They influence political attitudes, instill political values and impart political skills to citizens and elites. & rdquo [6] Political socialization plays a certain supporting role in political stability and development, mainly as follows: Political socialization enables individual political members to acquire the necessary political knowledge, attitude and skills to adapt to political life; Political socialization can shape and maintain political authority, thus forming strong political cohesion in the whole society and providing reliable and effective guarantee for the operation of political order; Political socialization can cultivate citizens' political quality, cultivate qualified political roles and promote the healthy development of democratic politics. In the process of social members' political socialization, the transmission of political information and the spread of political culture need certain channels and media. These channels and media mainly include: families, schools, social organizations, workplaces, mass media, elections and other political activities, non-governmental organizations and so on. With the development of Internet, the rise of network politics provides new channels and media for the political socialization of China citizens.
The rise of network politics in China has enabled China citizens to participate in the process of political socialization through network politics. In the process of network political participation, they can learn political culture, understand political phenomena, acquire political knowledge, political attitude and political skills necessary to adapt to political life, and form a relatively mature and stable & ldquo; political personality &; Therefore, rdquo will play a role in inheriting political culture, educating social members and consolidating political rule, and will also reduce the difficulty of gradually expanding orderly political participation, which is conducive to promoting the political development process in China.
In the process of online political participation, citizens can effectively obtain a wide range of political information, express their opinions and discuss political issues, social issues and important events, and participate in political-related voting or election activities. Moreover, such voting and elections can minimize the interference factors in real political life, and each political participant can basically make judgments and choices independently according to his own wishes. In the process of network political participation, citizens are equivalent to directly participating in social and political practice, being able to experience the meaning of political life, gain political knowledge and ability, and understand and feel the rights, obligations and responsibilities as citizens. Especially as far as the present situation of political participation in China is concerned, the ways and channels of ordinary citizens' political participation are relatively limited, the process of political socialization of citizens in China is relatively slow, and the level of political socialization of some citizens is relatively low. In this way, the convenience, equality and openness of online political participation provide an important channel for ordinary citizens' political participation, which plays an important role in promoting the political socialization process of ordinary citizens as online political participation and improving the political socialization level of social members at the individual level.
Due to the distinctive characteristics of network politics, the socialization of civil politics in the process of network politics is also different from traditional political life. First of all, it is interactive. The influence of the Internet is based on interaction and sharing. The Internet can show serious topics in a more humane way through an interactive platform, and let netizens participate in it, which is very beneficial for online political participants to exchange political experience and learn political knowledge and skills. Secondly, the directness is high. On the Internet, netizens can directly express their views and opinions on political issues and social events, and can directly participate in online voting or online election activities, thus cultivating the enthusiasm, rationality, tolerance and cooperation spirit of online political participants, accumulating social capital based on trust, and gaining some direct political experience. Again, polycentricity. The network operates in a discrete and non-central structure mode, which basically eliminates discrimination and makes the traditional and unified political control look pale and powerless, thus triggering new changes in the political socialization mode. On the other hand, the existence of huge, scattered network information with different values and political views also requires network political participants to have strong political discrimination ability, be good at political thinking on complicated network information, be able to correctly analyze and judge the international situation and major issues in domestic political, economic and cultural fields, be good at observing, thinking and handling problems politically, be mature in theory, be clear-headed in thought and be politically firm. This also plays an important role in improving citizens' political skills and forming a stable political consciousness and firm political stance.
With the further entry of the Internet into the daily life of China citizens, the Internet will play a more important role in the process of political socialization of China citizens, become an important medium of political socialization of citizens, and play a positive role in improving the political knowledge and skills of China citizens, shaping the political beliefs and consciousness of China citizens and maintaining the political stability of China.
Third, the rise of network politics contributes to the rationalization of the state and social structure.
The relationship between state and society is the most basic and complicated relationship in political life. After the founding of New China, the socialist political and economic system was gradually established. Under the historical conditions at that time, this highly centralized political and economic system, combined with unified ideological propaganda, strictly bound social members under a simple status hierarchy and lacked mobility opportunities, forming a unique social and political phenomenon, known as&; Ldquo the whole society &; rdquo。 This overall social system is based on the comprehensive control and monopoly of social resources by the state. [7] In this state, the power of the state has been greatly expanded, and society as an independent field almost does not exist. The state embeds the central government's economic, social and cultural transformation goals into the grass-roots society in various forms of movement, and transforms the grass-roots society into a part of the state. After the reform and opening up, with the continuous advancement of China's socialist modernization, the relationship between the state and society has begun to change, which is highlighted by the fact that the state can no longer completely monopolize all kinds of social resources, especially economic resources have begun to spread to other levels of society, and non-governmental organizations have also achieved great development, thus making the whole society & ldquo; Some characteristics of rdquo began to weaken. However, the imbalance between the state and social structure still exists in contemporary China, and the situation that the state is too strong and the social forces are too weak has not completely changed.
The rise of network politics in China is very important to change &: Ldquo Strong Country-Weak Society &; The power structure of rdquo is bound to play an important role in promoting, and the rise of network politics is also a process of power balance between the state and society. At present, due to the imperfect development and growth environment of non-governmental organizations in China, the role of non-governmental organizations as an important channel for citizens' political participation has not been well played. On the whole, the non-governmental organizations in China are still in the process of formation and have obvious transitional characteristics. The existing institutional environment shows a strong restriction and control orientation on the development of non-governmental organizations, which seriously restricts the development and growth of the strength and scale of non-governmental organizations. [8] Online media provides a huge platform for the public to obtain information, disseminate information and express their opinions. In the process of online communication, netizens' awareness of autonomy, equality and competition is increasing day by day, and netizens with political interests and tendencies are beginning to combine together, and a large number of online political forums and networks & ampldquo Virtual Society &; Rdquo started production. These online political forums and networks &; Ldquo Virtual Society &; Rdquo invisibly, a large number of netizens gather under their own banner, and they use the network platform to publish a lot of political information, which can break through the geographical restrictions and have a huge political impact in a certain time and space. American scholar Howard &; Middot Howard Rheingold is talking about the Internet &; Ldquo Virtual Society &; Rdquo said:&; The virtual community of ldquo network is not only a manifestation of the Internet changing the way of human communication, but also an opportunity for human beings to further change their own destiny. & amprdquo[9]
Surveys in many countries and regions show that the Internet is only a tool for people to obtain information and communicate. However, with the rapid development of Internet in China, netizens have some characteristics different from other countries.
That is, the Internet has become an important way of life for netizens in China. Many netizens in China will feel uncomfortable if they don't go to the forum to read posts and water for a day, which makes China netizens more willing to join online clubs or express their views on public events online. In this way, the network has greatly strengthened the links among citizens, various social organizations and social groups, and formed various criss-crossing complex relationships in the network. Compared with traditional society, online political forums and networks &; Ldquo Virtual Society &; Rdquo is more convenient to organize, almost free from geographical restrictions, and most members have no identity restrictions, which greatly expands the communication space of netizens. Some online political forums and networks &; Ldquo Virtual Society &; Rdquo has almost the same organizational structure as traditional organizations, including hierarchy and bureaucracy. At the same time, some emerging non-governmental organizations often use the Internet to contact and organize propaganda work, and have mastered the skills of fighting and cooperating with government organizations in the network very skillfully.
With the advancement of China's socialist modernization, the power between the state and society is constantly balanced and harmonious, and the rationalization of the state and social structure is an inevitable trend. American scholar Robert &; Middota. Dahl believes that the emergence of social organizations is not only the state &; The direct result of the democratization of the national governance process is also a necessary condition for the operation of the democratic process itself. Its function is to minimize government coercion, safeguard political freedom and safeguard human welfare. [10] Online political forums and networks &; Ldquo Virtual Society &; Rdquo There is no doubt that the mass production of "China" has strengthened the power of civil society, improved the social behavior ability of China citizens, and played a positive role in balancing the excessively powerful state power.
Fourth, the rise of network politics contributes to the improvement and reform of China's political system.
The rise of online politics is conducive to improving the government's decision-making and consultation process. British scholar Tim&; Middot According to Tim Jordan,&; The communication ability of ldquo network overcomes many identity-based inequalities. It can accommodate many people and communicate with many others at the same time, thus fundamentally changing the bureaucratic system that controls public decision-making. & rdquo [11] With the rise and development of e-government in China, citizens can clearly understand the government's working procedures in an environment of symmetrical and true information, which makes the formulation and implementation of public policies more transparent. Moreover, in the process of decision-making and consultation, the government can conduct public opinion surveys and consult citizens' opinions online, which can not only effectively absorb the suggestions and opinions of experts and scholars, but also fully absorb and listen to the opinions of various social groups. In addition, the network information is rich in content, easy to retrieve, easy to copy and low in cost, which can provide important reference for government decision-making. With the development of network technology, citizens have enough time and energy to expand their own interests, pay attention to the changes of life around them, pay attention to the operation of state power, especially government power, and participate more actively in the government decision-making process. In this way, with the rise of network politics, new decision-making ideas characterized by participation, response and interaction began to permeate public life, and new decision-making models characterized by scientific rationality, equal consultation and interest coordination began to appear, which had an important impact on exploring public participation and multi-directional interactive interest expression and decision-making mechanism with China characteristics.
The rise of online politics is conducive to reducing government operating costs and improving administrative efficiency. As a government agency, the development of e-government can be said to be the product of the adaptation of governments at all levels in China to the development of network, especially the development of network politics, and it is also an important part of network politics. E-government, as the most basic and commonly used technical means of government office management in the information age, not only in the field of public administration, but also gradually affects all fields and aspects of human social life. In recent years, China's e-government has made great progress. With the upsurge of government surfing the Internet, the use of e-mail, online information release, information resource sharing, video and telephone conference, and electronic taxation have obviously improved administrative efficiency, reduced the operating cost of the government, reduced the strangeness and distance of the general public to the government, and gained more understanding and support for government behavior.
The rise of network politics provides an important means for effective democratic supervision. In recent years, the party and the state have promulgated a series of policies and laws to strengthen the construction of democratic supervision mechanism. However, the current democratic supervision mechanism in China is still a very weak link in our political system, which is not perfect and effective enough. The lack of a good democratic supervision mechanism is one of the main obstacles to China's political development. With the rise of network politics, a new form of democratic supervision &; Mdash& ampmdash; Network supervision is taking shape. The development of network technology has greatly expanded the object and scope of supervision, as well as the breadth and depth of supervision, which fully embodies the characteristics of popularization, regularity and diversification of supervision and can effectively curb political corruption. At the same time, many events in China in recent years show that some social problems can attract the attention of relevant departments through the dissemination of online media and the supervision of online public opinion, and urge relevant departments to solve them. On July 6th, 2007, China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) released the15th statistical report on China's Internet development. As of June 2007, the total number of Internet users in China reached 654.38+62 billion, second only to the United States (2654.38+0654.38+0 billion), ranking second in the world. Among netizens in China, more than 40% (43.9%) have college education or above, showing a strong feature of high education. This makes China's network supervision have a large and high-quality team, which provides an important social foundation for giving full play to the role of network supervision. Network supervision can become an important part of China's democratic supervision mechanism and play an important role in improving the supervision mechanism.
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Because of the openness, convenience and virtuality of the network, compared with traditional politics, network politics also has distinct characteristics. For example, network politics, virtual and reality are born, civilian politics and elite politics are integrated, and controllability and high transparency coexist. In this way, on the one hand, network politics is the development of real politics in the network field, on the other hand, it will also have a huge impact on real politics. The rise of network politics has promoted the political development of China in many aspects, but it should also be noted that the rise of network politics is a kind of&; Ldquo A Double-edged Sword & rdquo In the current process of online politics in China, there is some inequality among the participants in online politics, the process of online politics is lack of clear norms, and there is a large room for speculation and manipulation in online public opinion, which may have a negative impact on China's political development in a certain period of time. In the development of network politics, we should pay attention to actively guiding and standardizing these problems, strengthen ideological education for participants in network politics, enhance their self-discipline spirit, and strengthen relevant network legislation, so as to make the development of network politics run on a healthy and good track. Weighing the advantages and disadvantages of the rise of network politics, we can say that it will obviously promote the political development of China.
References:
[1][ America] Gabriel &; Middota. almond, Sydney & middot Weiba. Civic culture &; Mdash& ampmdash; Political attitudes and democracy in five countries [M]. Beijing: Oriental Publishing House, 2008: 12- 13.
[2][ America] Robert &; Middot Putnam Let democracy work [M]. Nanchang: Jiangxi People's Publishing House, 200 1: 2 14.
[3] Liu Zehua, Quan Ge and Liu Gang. Introduction to China's traditional political culture [J]. Tianjin Social Sciences, 1989(2).
[4] Kevin A. Hill, John E. Hughes, Network Politics: Citizen Activism in the Internet Age. Lanham: Roman & Littlefield Publishing Company, 1998: 42
[5] Li Bin. Introduction to network politics [M]. Beijing: China Social Sciences Press, 2006: 273.
[6][ America] Gabriel middotA & ampmiddot almond, little G &；; Middot Bingham &; Middot Powell Comparative Politics: System, Process and Policy [M]. Shanghai: Shanghai Translation Publishing House, 1987: 9 1.
[7] ancient horse. The evolution of the interactive relationship between the state, the civil ruling elite and the people in China before and after the reform [J]. China Social Science Quarterly, 1993(6).
[8] He Zengke. Environmental Impact Assessment of Civil Society Development in China [J]. Journal of Jiangsu Administration College, 2006(4).
[9] Howard Reingold. & ampldquo's Rethinking of Virtual Community. rdquo。 Edited in David Bell. Key concepts in media and cultural studies. New york: routledge Publishing House, 2006: 3-66 pages.
The Dilemma of Robert A Dahl's Pluralistic Democracy: Autonomy and Control. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982: 1.
Tim Jordan. Culture and politics of cyberspace and internet. London: routledge, 1999: 82.
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