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ABSTRACT
Since 1989, many of the former communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) have made the dramatic change from communist regimes to democratic nations that are integrated in the European sphere. While these sweeping changes have given rise to a successful transition to democracy unlike any the world has ever seen, there remain issues with governance as well as citizen support for the regime. While other studies have shown that mass media can influence a person's attitudes and opinions in the region, none has explored what effect social media can have on orientations toward democracy in the region. In the following paper, I build several hypotheses based on previous studies of media effects and democratic survival. I then employ survey data to empirically test whether social media increases support for democracy. The study finds that not only does using social media increase support for democracy, but also simple usage rather than information seeking provides more consistent effects on a person's support for democracy in CEE.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes on contributor
Matthew Alan Placek is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of South Carolina Upstate. His research interests focus on the internet, political attitudes, and behaviour, and their consequences for democracy in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America.
Notes
1 Mishler and Rose, “Trust, Distrust, and Skepticism”; Mishler and Rose, “What are the Origins of Political Trust”; Ekman and Linde, “Communist Nostalgia and the Consolidation of Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe.”
2 Nisbet et al., “Internet Use and Democratic Demands.”
3 Eltantawy and Wiest, “The Arab Spring”; Kyj, “Internet Use in Ukraine's Orange Revolution”; Matay and Kaposi, “Radicals Online.”
4 Bailard, Democracy’s Double-Edged Sword.
5 Dahl, Polyarchy.
6 Linz and Stepan, Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation.
7 Bajomi-Lazar, “From Political Propaganda to Political Marketing.”
8 Coleman and Blumler, The Internet and Democratic Citizenship.
9 Ibid.
10 Gunther and Mughan, “The Media in Democratic and Nondemocratic Regimes.”
11 Jebril et al., “Media and Democratisation.”
12 Easton, “A Re-Assessment of the Concept of Political Support.”
13 Booth and Seligson, The Legitimacy Puzzle in Latin America.
14 Gross, Entangled Evolutions.
15 Farrell and Drezner, “The Power and Politics of Blogs.”
16 Bonfadelli, “The Internet and Knowledge Gaps.”
17 Barberá et al., “Tweeting From Left to Right”; Colleoni et al., “Echo Chamber or Public Sphere?”; Feller et al., “Divided They Tweet”; Garrett, “Echo Chambers Online?”
18 Kwak et al., “What is Twitter, a Social Network or a News Media?”
19 Morozov, The Net Delusion.
20 Carlin and Love, “What's at Stake?”; Andrews and Bairett, “Institutions and the Stabilization of Party Systems in the New Democracies of Central and Eastern Europe.”
21 Powell and Tucker, “Revisiting Electoral Volatility in Post-Communist Countries”; Simpson and Druxes, Digital Media Strategies of the Far Right in Europe and the United States; Morozov, The Net Delusion.
22 Matay and Kaposi, “Radicals Online.”
23 Sik, “The Imitated Public Sphere.”
24 Xenos and Moy, “Direct and Differential Effects of the Internet on Political and Civic Engagement.”
25 Norris, Digital Divide.
26 Mossberger et al., Digital Citizenship.
27 Hindman, The Myth of Digital Democracy.
28 Curran et al., “Internet Revolution Revisited.”
29 Prior, Post-Broadcast Democracy.
30 Baum, “Soft News and Political Knowledge”; Baum, “Sex, Lies, and War”; Baum and Jamison, “The Oprah Effect.”
31 Bode, “Political News in the News Feed.”
32 Anderson et al., Losers’ Consent.
33 Coleman and Blumler, The Internet and Democratic Citizenship.
34 Parrish-Sprowl, “The Intersection of Two Revolutions.”
35 Raacke and Raacke, “MySpace and Facebook”; Park et al.,” Being Immersed in Social Networking Environment.”
36 Ellison et al., “Connection Strategies”; Steinfield et al., “Social Capital, Self-Esteem, and Use of Online Social Network Sites”; although see Shah et al., “’Connecting’ and ‘Disconnecting’ With Civic Life.”
37 Paxton, “Social Capital and Democracy.”
38 Wojcieszak and Mutz, “Online Groups and Political Discourse.”
39 Kahne et al., “Youth Online Activity and Exposure to Diverse Perspectives.”
40 Teorell, “Political Participation and Three Theories of Democracy.”
41 Nisbet et al., “Internet Use and Democratic Demands.”
42 Bode et al., “A New Space for Political Behavior.”
43 Bode, “Political News in the News Feed.”
44 Barberá et al., “Tweeting From Left to Right”; Kahne et al., “Youth Online Activity and Exposure to Diverse Perspectives.”
45 Vaccari et al., “Political Expression and Action on Social Media.”
46 Booth and Seligson, The Legitimacy Puzzle in Latin America.
47 See Hainmueller, “Entropy Balancing for Causal Effects.”
48 The variables that internet use is balanced on are age, education, gender, social class, and place of residence (urban or rural).
49 The only concept missing is support for political actors as there are no questions in the surveys that ask about specific government actors.
50 Please note that the variables for trust in the justice system, police, and military were only available in 2014.
51 Evans and Whitefield, “The Politics and Economics of Democratic Commitment.”
52 Almond and Verba, The Civic Culture.
53 Gibson, “Alternative Measures of Political Tolerance”; Gibson, “Putting up with Fellow Russians”; Duch and Gibson, “’Putting Up With’ Fascists in Western Europe.”
54 This study contains a grouping for people with no formal education as well as groups for people who ceased formal education at the age of: 15 and under, 16 to 19, and 20 and older.
55 Booth and Seligson, The Legitimacy Puzzle in Latin America.
56 Easton, “A Re-Assessment of the Concept of Political Support.”
57 Mishler and Rose, “Trajectories of Fear and Hope.”
58 See Coleman, Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital.
59 Kwak et al., “What is Twitter, a Social Network or a News Media?”
60 Evans and Whitefield, “The Politics and Economics of Democratic Commitment.”
61 Bode, “Political News in the News Feed.”
62 Curran, “What Democracy Requires of the Media.”
63 Sükösd and Bajomi-Lazar, Reinventing Media.
64 Barberá et al., “Tweeting From Left to Right”; Kahne et al., “Youth Online Activity and Exposure to Diverse Perspectives.”
65 Baum and Jamison, “The Oprah Effect.”
66 Kahne et al., “Youth Online Activity and Exposure to Diverse Perspectives.”
67 Bennett and Iyengar, “A New Era of Minimal Effects?”
68 Bennett and Iyengar, “A New Era of Minimal Effects?”; Bartels “Messages Received.”
69 Xenos and Moy, “Direct and Differential Effects of the Internet on Political and Civic Engagement”; Mossberger et al., Digital Citizenship.