Digital Democracy

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Digital Democracy

Over the years the media has made citizens major role players in politics. Ross Perot opened eyes by putting the 1992 Election in the media and thereby allowing voters to become directly involved in politics. The Internet, the new form of mass media “has turned into a major political and media industry” (Grossman 16). Because of the rise the Internet has taken, the idea of direct democracy has risen. The foundation of direct democracy is in self-government. The claim is that the presence of the Internet will increase citizens’ involvement in political issues by allowing them access to more information. This is significant because it takes a look at the impact of technology on society and politics, as well by looking at politics from the average persons’ perspective. It is my position, however that although the Internet will make citizens more informed this would actually work to deter people from participating in politics. Through the greater establishment of community and trust among citizens will we find the desire to participate in government and politics.

Currently, our government is based on a representative form of democracy, where citizens choose representatives to make decisions on their behalf. This is a type of self-government because “by choosing those who would govern them, the people would also, in effect, be governing themselves” (Grossman 40). However, with the coming of the Internet age and a higher prospect of self-government, representative democracy could soon become obsolete, being replaced by direct democracy. Direct Democracy was first introduced by The Athenians as a form of government back in fifth century BC. Direct Democracy allowed the citizens to make the rules as w...

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...e nationwide disaster. Our best hope at creating a better democracy is to focus on rebuilding the community. Before we can put things in place that are meant to reconstruct society, we must first fix the foundation upon which this nation was built, and that is community.

Works Cited:

Bimber, Bruce. “The Internet and Political Transformation: Populism,

Community, and Accelerated Pluralism.” Polity 31(1): 133-160.

Davis, Richard. The Web of Politics. New York: Oxford Press, 1999.

Davison, Donald E. New Democracy: A New Democracy means a more Direct

Democracy. 1 April 2001. 27 September 2001. <http://www.mich.com/~donald/first.html>.

Grossman, Lawrence K. The Electronic Republic. New York: Penguin Group, 1995.

Kamarck, Elaine, and Joseph S. Nye, Jr. democracy.com: Governance in a Networked

World. Hollis, NH: Hollis Publishing, 1999.

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