In 1989, Ronald Reagan proclaimed that "the communications revolution will be the greatest force for the advancement of human freedom that the world has ever known."

Technology promise

Maybe -- in a decade or so -- his prophecy will come true and Nigerians, Saudis, and Kazakhs might routinely download the U.S. Constitution and vote over cell phones in mass parliaments.

But for now, information technology hasn't lived up to its worldwide political promise.

Many authoritarian countries, such as Burma, have simply and successfully banned the Internet from the public. Others, such as Cuba or China, have built national firewalls that block the Net's democratizing effect.

Speedy process

But the most interesting indictment of the early thesis of information technology's coming political beneficence comes from the few places where it has indeed had an impact.

There, it has tended simply to speed up the political process rather than improve it. And when it comes to selecting effective global leaders -- faster often equals worse.

Philippines, Indonesia, Minnesota

Consider the three political leaders aided the most while rising to power by the Internet and information technology: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in the Philippines, Megawati Sukarnoputri in Indonesia and Jesse Ventura in Minnesota.

Macapagal Arroyo came to power in January 2001 after Filipinos converged en masse on a famous Manila intersection on the Edsa Boulevard to protest against then-President Estrada.

Most of the protesters came because of little notes on their cell-phone screens: "Go to the EDSA shrine to protest. Pls pass" or "EDSA. EDSA: everybody converge on EDSA!"

Ejected by text message

After Estrada was thrown from power, the Manila Standard filed the headline "At least 100 million text messages did Estrada in."

In Indonesia, the effect of information technology on Megawati's rise to power was less clear -- but certainly substantial.

Embracing technology

As with the Philippines, the government had embraced information technology -- and students had become familiar with the Internet during the '90s Asian economic miracle.

Then, during the protests that brought down long-time ruler General Suharto, the Internet provided an essential communication method.

Hit "send," not people

"The internet contributed significant role in stepping Suharto down in 1998," says one of the student leaders at the time, Zul Zulkieflimansyah.

"Many sensitive and important issues, up to date infos, etc were spread easily by using the Internet -- Email, Web, mailing list etc