Internet Election Campaigns in the United States, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan

This paper explores how the Internet has transformed electoral campaigns by comparing cases of four advanced democracies (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United States). Specifically, we focus on how new electoral deregulation of the Internet in the East Asian democracies has promoted the “Americanization” of electoral campaigns. The “Americanization” of campaigns is the adoption of certain characteristics of campaign elements and strategies first developed in the United States. Those characteristics include the instrumental relationship between politics and the media and the professionalization of election campaigns.

This work is based upon the upcoming book in which all of seven co-authors have participated. The paper as well as the book has two important purposes. First, it aims at an antidote for the Western (particularly European) centered comparative political communication studies. Although political communication research on the impact of the Internet and digital media on election campaigns is robust in many countries, there are virtual void in explaining Asian cases. This may be partly due to lack in English publications about Asian experience. This paper intended to fill in the gap. Second, this study examines how East Asian democracies have adopted “Americanization” of digital campaigns by comparing their similarities and differences. Countries have experienced different patterns of online political development, and digital campaigns must have unique, country-specific characteristics.

In examining the notion of the "Americanization" of political campaigns in three democracies, there are five reference points. These are: 1) media-centered campaign practices; 2) weakened political party’s role in recruiting and selecting candidates; 3) candidate-centered campaigns; 4) professionalization of electioneering; and 5) increasing cynicism among voters. Some of those signs are clearly manifested in these Asian cases, but some, especially in relation to the party’s influence, are not yet obvious in Asia at this moment.

Finally, this paper synthesizes each of the discussions and attempts to propose a more comprehensive model of Internet electoral campaigns across the Pacific. Analysis of new developments in elections across the Pacific will find a new horizon in the relationship between the ICT industry and society. The Asian–US comparison provides more balanced perspectives for the ongoing discussions on American and/or European-centered media-electoral nexuses.