Description

This paper analyses the socio-political implications of blogs in Singapore. The study is situated within the wider framework of the internet being heralded as the greatest force for democratisation the world has ever seen (Pitrodi 1993), and at the same time another means of disseminating propaganda, fear and intimidation (Rodan 1997). Pitrodi's claim that the internet will create democracy is founded on an increase in political participation that it allows. Here it is argued that the increase in political participation that the internet allows does not necessarily result in democratisation. The non-democratic nature of Singapore society inhibits the development of an online Habermasian public sphere. However, rather than acting as a tool for the dissemination of propaganda, fear and intimidation, the internet acts as a means of reinforcing the dominant ideology of social cohesion or survivalism. My specific research questions are: How involved in creating a counter public based on an alternative ideology is the Singapore socio-political blogosphere? Which blogs are central to this process? Which blogs are more interconnected? Are there cliques? What styles of discourse appear in the Singapore socio-political blogosphere?