346 Revista del Instituto Español de Estudios Estratégicos Núm. 1/ 2013 ** Percentages of the total number of population of a country. Source: Own preparation, based upon data from the Internet World Stats and Freedom House In regards to table I, it is necessary to point out that a large number of these countries, such as Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan are identified as some of the most underdeveloped States on the planet. This explains why only a limited part of their populations have access to the Internet, a technology whose cost is prohibitive within a subsistence context. On the contrary, in this group we also find countries in a situation of economic boom such as Saudi Arabia or China, where a significant process of spreading this technology amongst their populations has taken place. However, there are those in both groups that are States whose score has remained practically unchanged, not only during the period studied, but also in periods before the appearance of this technology. Hence, the situation of the absence of political freedom is a stable characteristic, which has not been affected by this instrument. The data from the first group do not support the cyber-optimists’ argument, at least as regards its effects in the short or medium term. The cyber-pessimists’ argument could only be indirectly validated if we speculate about the possibility that the Internet has been a decisive factor in the capability of those regimes to maintain the same levels of political repression during recent years. However, the example of North Korea also makes it possible to assert that perpetuating totalitarian regimes is possible without the need to use the Internet as an instrument of social control. Table II: Countries with the biggest overall increases in freedom between 2008 and 2011 and percentages of Internet penetration within their populations (2000-2011) COUNTRY Freedom Index* (2000) Internet Penetration ** (2000) Freedom Index* (2005) Internet Penetration ** (2005) Freedom Index* (2011) Internet Penetration ** (2011) TUNISIA 5.5 1 5.5 8 3.5 33.9 MALDIVES 5.5 1.5 5.5 13.7 3.5 28.9 BANGLADESH 3.5 0.1 4 0,2 3.5 3.5 PAKISTAN 5.5 0.1 5.5 6 4.5 15.5 TOGO 5 1.5 5.5 3.5 4.5 5,3 THAILAND 2.5 3.4 3 15.4 4 27.4 M YA N M A R 7 0 7 0 6.5 0,2 (BURMA) EGYPT 5.5 0.7 5.5 6 5.5 26.4 LIBYA 7 0.2 7 3 6.5 5,9 BHUTAN 6.5 0 5.5 2 4.5 13.9 Notes: * Scale from 1 to 7, with 1 being the maximum degree of freedom and 7 the minimum. ** Percentages of the total number of population of a country. Source: Own preparation, based upon data from the Internet World Stats and Freedom House
REVISTA IEEE 1
To see the actual publication please follow the link above