Abstract
This article reviews and analyses scholarly perceptions of the internet’s effects on democratization. Two main approaches to the internet are broadly identified: cyber optimism and cyber pessimism. The former is characterized by a positive view of the internet’s potential to bring about political changes: democracy can be promoted worldwide, empowering, and eventually liberating closed societies. The latter, in contrast, offers a sceptical perspective: authoritarian regimes have managed to adapt to a new information environment, exploiting digital technologies for propaganda, surveillance, and censorship. By critically reviewing the literature, it is possible to recognize and trace the evolution of scholarly thought, from highly optimistic to pessimistic, on the internet’s influence on democratization. Empirical evidence from the literature also allows for identifying key tactics that states employ to control the internet. Increasing digital control by states demonstrates that optimistic assessments related to the internet’s global rise have not been reasonably justified.