The Online Political Participation and the Role of Chinese Government

The Internet offers a new opportunity for political participation and civic engagement. The thesis tries to discuss the role of the government based on the analysis of the forms of online political participation in China. As a new political phenomenon, there are various forms of online political participation such as offering suggestions online, anticorruption online, online mass incidents and political apathy. But the side effects of online political participation, including the ambiguity of the participants, the difficulty of information screening, the power asymmetry and the tragedy of the commons, may bring about new challenges to the government. Therefore, the government should try its best to be a listener of the online public opinion, a participant of network politics and a guide of cyber democracy.