An internet-mediated political public sphere in China and South Korea

This thesis investigates the growing volume of online political commentary being produced by Internet users in Mainland China and South Korea, analysing the qualities and characteristics of these discourses through adaptation of the argument provided by German sociologist Jürgen Habermas about the workings of the public sphere. In evaluating the gap between the idealised qualities of the public sphere and real-life communication, the study uses the concept of the public sphere as a heuristic device. This study asks two questions: first, to what extent does the political communication hosted on the online discussion boards, blogs, webpages, Tweets, microblogs and other forms of online media in both countries resemble a public sphere and, second, what sort of political change do these forms of exchange encourage. To explore these questions, this study incorporates analysis of online discussion related to four case studies that span the cyberspheres of both nations: the coverage provided by online news services, online nationalism and the conflict over the history of the Goguryeo Kingdom, Internet-based environmental activism and opposition to hydrological development and, finally, debates surrounding the social and legal status of gays and lesbians in Korean and Chinese society. Based on qualitative analysis, subject interviews and background research related to these four areas, this study argues that while the public sphere concept is inadequate for assessing the characteristics of Internet-mediated political discourse, online media are nonetheless helping to pluralise public political communication in Korean and Chinese society. The thesis finds that while such pluralisation is promoting incremental political change, it is nonetheless doing so in largely unpredictable ways. The study concludes that online political communications may not produce the expected outcomes of institutionalised democracy in China, or the consolidation of democracy in South Korea.