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378 Araba Sey and Manuel Castellssource of funding, not because of the technology, but because involvement inan interactive political network is an expression of commitment toward apersonal political option. Media politics is mass politics. Networked politics isindividualized politics, which tries to connect to many other individuals,suddenly identified as recognizable citizens. In the same way that media politicsdisrupted traditional party machines, networked politics is disruptingmedia politics.The potential consequences are vast as formal politics is nowadays generallypredicated on the client/citizen model of consumption of one-way politicalmessages. The consequences include the fragmentation of politics, thespread of referendum politics, the unpredictability of political opinion, thewhirlwind of political leadership that results from the emergence of insurgentpolitical entrepreneurs, and, ultimately, the erosion of the stable system ofpolitical representation that characterized democracies in the past half-century.The dilemma seems to be between the continuation of traditional party politics,enacted through media politics and increasingly delegitimized, and theemergence of networked politics in a process characterized by the productionof new actors and new issues against or around the political establishment,thus leading to systemic instability.REFERENCESAgre, P. E. (2002) “Real-time Politics: The Internet and the Political Process,” TheInformation Society 18: 311–31.Anderson, David M. (2003) “Cautious Optimism about Online Politics andCitizenship,” in D. M. Anderson and M. Cornfield (eds), The Civic Web: OnlinePolitics and Democratic Values, pp. 19–34. Lanham, MD: Rowman andLittlefield.—— and Cornfield, M. (eds) (2003) The Civic Web: Online Politics and DemocraticValues. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.Associated Press (2003) “Wesley Clark Enters Crowded Presidential Race,”September 17 (retrieved October 1, 2003 from www.katv.com).Barber, Benjamin (1984) Strong Democracy. Berkeley, CA: University of CaliforniaPress.—— (1998) “The New Telecommunications Technology: Endless Frontier or End ofDemocracy,” in Roger G. Noll and Monroe Price (eds), CommunicationsCornucopia, pp. 72–98. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.Bernstein, D. (2003) “Campaign Dot-com,” Boston Phoenix, September 5–11(retrieved October 3, 2003 from www.bostonphoenix.com).Bimber, B. (2003) Information and American Democracy: Technology in theEvolution of Political Power. New York: Cambridge University Press.Bolton, A. (2003) “Dean Presidential Rivals Suffer ‘Growth Pains’ Chasing Dean,”The Hill, October 8 (retrieved October 25, 2003 from www.thehill.com).Browning, Graeme (2001) Electronic Democracy: Using the Internet to TransformAmerican Politics, 2nd edn. Medford, NJ: CyberAge Books.