This working paper was prepared for the Oxford Internet Surveys (OxIS) input to the World Internet Project (WIP). It compares Britain with other European nations and the wider world in its adoption and use of the Internet. It draws from the Oxford Internet Surveys (OxIS)and the World Internet...

The relationship between governments and citizens in many contemporary democracies is haunted by uncertainty, and sociologists face the task of listening effectively to citizens' own reflections on this uncertain relationship. This article reflects on the qualitative methodology of a recently...

On 9 December 2011 a new Belgian government was sworn in after a record-breaking 541 days of negotiations between all democratic political forces with the aim to alter the constitution and provide more autonomy to the different regions that make up Belgium. In this article, the frequent use of...

This paper analyzes why governments in Greece have systematically appealed to ‘Europe’ during their domestic privatization discourse. It illustrates that, when proposed policy reforms get rough and the opposition grows, governments anticipate garnering increased public justification in order...

This paper illustrates the persistence of an exogenous model of development that underpins many interventions aimed at employing information and communication technologies (ICTs) to meet development goals. The analysis is based on a sample of texts from reports produced by United Nations...

This article argues that, instead of assuming that we know what ‘cultural citizenship’ involves, we should investigate more closely the uncertainties about what constitutes the ‘culture’ (or cultures) of citizenship. The article argues for the distinctive contribution of cultural studies...

Recent accounts of Habermas's conception of the public sphere concern the interlocking of multiple networks and spaces. In a global context new interfaces between existing (counter-) public spheres can lead to multiple counter-publics. This article explores this phenomenon through the...

This paper examines efforts to provide low cost Internet access devices for the poor in the light of debates about the appropriate role of information and communication technologies in development and the priority that should be given to enabling the poor to become connected to global networks....

Children's online experience, especially the risks to which they might be exposed, is an increasingly important policy and research concern. This article reports an analysis of the amount, nature and range of empirical research concerning children's online experiences across 18 European...