Parties, Candidates and Citizens On-Line - Åbo Akademi

Therefore, the internet is merely a new means for the politically motivated citizens to
engage in traditional political activity (Norris, 1999a: 9-10; 1999b).
The findings in previous studies support the notions of this motivation-based
reinforcement theory, especially regarding demanding forms of on-line political activity
such as political discussions (Cornfield et al., 2003: 20; Norris, 1999b). Norris (1999b)
found that only four percent of the American internet users had participated in an on-line
political discussion prior to the 1996 and 1998 elections. Recently the figure has risen to
seven percent (Cornfield et al., 2003: 20). Nonetheless, the citizens’ interest in this form
of electronic political participation still remains very small. In the study mentioned above,
Norris (1999b: 88-89) found that those using the web were already among the most
politically motivated, interested and informed citizens. In the same manner, Gibson and
Ward (1999: 14) stress that the driving force behind European internet users’ interest in
electronic political debates was their prior interest in off-line debates.
2. Purpose and research questions
The purpose of the study is:
To assess which of either the mobilization- or the reinforcement theory mostly corresponds to the reality in
a Finnish context.
Globally, Finland is among the leading nations in internet penetration. In May 2002, 51.9
% of the population had access to the internet 1 . Moreover, Finland has been among the
world leaders in internet access for several years (e.g. Norris, 2001c), and therefore one
can expect that Finnish internet users are relatively familiar with the options available online.
Hence, the political outlets ought not to be entirely unknown to Finnish internet
users. Thus, conceptually speaking, the resource-based divide in internet access in Finland
is amongst the smallest in the world. Therefore, the Finnish context provides a suitable
testing ground for the motivation-based mobilization- and reinforcement theories. The
main research question of the study is:
RQ1: What indications of either the mobilization- or the reinforcement theory can be found in the
citizens’ activity on Finnish electronic discussion boards?
Are the electronic ‘town-hall’ meetings really engaging the masses, or are there only a few
citizens attending? On-line discussion boards are generally regarded as one of the more
demanding forms of political participation (Gibson and Ward, 1999; Norris, 1999b).
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