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AbstractInternet based technology constitutes one of the most important policy innovations in the last decades. Its diffusion has been rapid, widespread and sustained. The increase has raised questions about its drivers. The article focuses on an aspect of this dynamic that has been neglected so far: the variance between and among democracies and autocracies and their respective subtypes. Moreover, the majority of studies tackles the diffusion of e‐government techniques, excluding the important array of e‐participation. Our analysis thus offers a broader and more differentiated account of the adoption of online tools by governments. The findings indicate that the adoption of e‐government and e‐participation techniques varies substantially between and among democratic and autocratic regime types as well as over time and in kind.

The phrase "unintended consequences" is often used in the political (science) discourse, yet it still remains theoretically underspecified. We conceptualize unintended consequences in role theoretical terms in three steps, and then apply it to the United States' policy vis-a-vis the Asia-Pacific region under the Obama administration - the so-called "Pivot to Asia." First, we model unintended consequences as a gap be-tween the initial role-taking of an actor and the deviant but commensurate counter-role taking of an Other. Second, we examine the Obama administration's initial role-taking in the diplomatic, security, and economic realms, under the assumption that domestic contestation in the US may lead to unclear signaling about the Pivot's intentions. Third, we investigate counter-role taking by Japan, the Philippines, and Indonesia in order to draw conclusions about their interpretation of US role-taking and its consequences for the region's social structure. Our analysis exposes differentiated patterns of unintended consequences due to deviant counter-role taking by these nations vis-a-vis the US, China, and other actors in the region along all three dimensions of the Pivot. (Asien/GIGA)

Mehr als die Hälfte aller Menschen hat keinen Zugang zum Internet – ein Umstand, der sich gravierend auf die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung auswirkt und zur Manifestation der weltweiten Ungleichheit beiträgt. Zunehmend zeigen sich aber auch immaterielle Folgen: das Ausbleiben transnationaler Kommunikation und Defizite bei der Beteiligung an internationalen Entscheidungsprozessen. Am Beispiel der politischen Online-Kommunikation über Soziale Medien erörtern wir die Folgen der digitalen Kluft zwischen den Gesellschaften.

"This collection examines changes in China's international role over the past century. Tracing the links between domestic and external expectations in the PRC's role conception and preferred engagement patterns in world politics, the work provides a systematic account of changes in China's role and the mechanisms of role taking. Individual chapters address the impact of China's history and identity on its bilateral role taking patterns with the United States, Japan, Africa, the Europe Union, and Socialist States as well as China's role in international institutions, the G-20, and East Asia's Financial Order. Each of the empirical chapters is written to a common template exploring the role of historical self-identification, altercasting and domestic role contestation in shaping the PRC's role. The volume provides an analytically coherent framework evaluating whether cooperation or conflict in China's international engagement is likely to increase, and if so, the extent to which this will follow from incompatible domestic demands and external expectations. By combining a theoretical framework with strong comparative case studies, this volume contributes to the ongoing debate on China's rise and integration into the international society and provides sound conclusions about the prospects for a transition of China's purpose in world politics."--