Communication, Culture and Change in Asia

This book explores the nexus between social media use among young people and political participation in Vietnam, which presents a novel case example for examining whether social media can expand the public sphere to become involved in everyday politics. With an estimated 72 million Vietnamese on Facebook, the country is the seventh-largest user base in the world. This social media platform alone has created a virtual public sphere outside of and beyond the scope of the ruling Communist Party and its state-owned media outlets. The authors analyse the paradox of a complicated balancing act of digital participation in an authoritarian state, promoting a new understanding of social media in non-Western societies. The book generates a considerable body of empirical findings relating to political engagement amongst the youth in the digital age, and develops the theory of the public sphere beyond Habermas within this context. In its examination of the role of social media in society and in political communication generally, and the role of social media in authoritarian states, specifically, this book is of interest to students and scholars researching social media, political communication, and media theories. It is also relevant to those studying the intersection of media and politics in Southeast Asia, and in authoritarian states globally.

This book studies China’s Internet in the 2000s, with a focus on the challenges and dilemmas of the authorities and the battles between the authorities and the newly networked society in the cyber space, which has been a critical centerpiece in the Chinese authorities' struggle for political stability. The book also examines the distinct technological means and political/legal regulations/restrictions used for Internet control, unique characteristics, and the implications of their influences on the political change and social transformation of the world’s most populous country. It illuminates the fierce competition between the authorities and the newly networked Chinese society by looking at how Chinese netizens make every possible effort to gain access to the Internet for truth and make their voices and views heard, while how the authorities use whatever possible means to prevent that from happening. The in-depth analyses of how these challenges, dilemmas and battles have been affecting and changing China’s political system, the ruling communist ideology, the public’s access to information as well as the expression of the public’s discourse are relevant to policymakers and analysts in both business and government sectors, as well as scholars and researchers with an interest in Asian Studies, Chinese Studies, communication, new media, political science, and sociology.