Internet a Catalyst for Democracy?

Berkman Fellow Michael Best, Assistant Professor with the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Tech, has recently focused his work on the question, “Will the Internet ultimately become a tool of political liberation and strong democracy or the ultimate weapon of control for authoritarian regimes?” Today Michael presented research he’s done that examines a correlation between political liberties and Internet diffusion through a variety of statistical models. One of Michael’s models suggests that one point of political rights, on a seven-point scale, is gained for every 3.3 new Internet users per 1,000 population.