A comparative analysis of political websites and their users from seven Western
democracies. Digital politics is shorthand for how internet technologies have fueled the
complex interactions between political actors and their constituents. Cristian Vaccari
analyzes the presentation and consumption of online politics in seven advanced Western
democracies—Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United
States—from 2006 to 2010. His study not only refutes claims that the web creates …

Studies of the internet and politics have, it appears, entered a new phase, one which is
starting to eschew grand predictions about how democracy as a whole may be altered in
favour of more nuanced studies which seek explanation for variation in changes already
observed. Cristian Vaccari's Digital Politics in Western Democracies can be located at the
forefront of such attempts. In it we find a multi-year comparative study of seven Western
democracies which addresses two central questions: the factors which explain the quality …