Explaining the Global Digital Divide: Economic, Political, and Sociological Drivers of Cross-national Internet Use

We argue that the global digital divide, as measured by cross-national differences in Internet use, is the result of the economic, regulatory, and sociopolitical characteristics of countries and their evolution over time. We predict Internet use to increase with world-system status, privatization and competition in the telecommunications sector, democracy, and cosmopolitanism. Using data on 118 countries during the 1997-2001 period, we find relatively robust support for each of our hypotheses. We conclude by exploring the implications of this new, powerful communication medium for the global political economy and for the spread of democracy around the world.