Politics is E-verywhere
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Kees Brants
Abstract
Internet is often said to open up new avenues for a more direct and deliberative democracy. In this article, the notion of ‘deliberation’ will be problematized and a typology of political web sites will be developed. Next, three case studies of Dutch discussion sites are used to test the claim that the organizational structure, aim, control of content and kind of interactivity of political web sites can explain the level and quality of participation. Except for its mostly extreme elitist participation, the research presented here gives a rather ambiguous picture of e-democracy at work. Not only are we confronted with more paradoxes than clear-cut answers, the question is raised whether notions such as the ‘public sphere’ are not more of a hindrance than a help in making sense of politics on the Internet.
© Walter de Gruyter
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Introduction to Theme Issue: Emerging Electronic Networks and Democratic Life
- The Web as a Space for Local Agency
- Politics is E-verywhere
- Political Parties Online: Digital Democracy as Reflected in Three Dutch Political Party Web Sites
- Community Networking and Perceptions of Civic Value
- Network Democracy and the Fourth World
- Designing E-Democracy in Scotland
- The Social Shaping of a Technological Idea: How a Community Network Database was Conceived
- Contributors
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Introduction to Theme Issue: Emerging Electronic Networks and Democratic Life
- The Web as a Space for Local Agency
- Politics is E-verywhere
- Political Parties Online: Digital Democracy as Reflected in Three Dutch Political Party Web Sites
- Community Networking and Perceptions of Civic Value
- Network Democracy and the Fourth World
- Designing E-Democracy in Scotland
- The Social Shaping of a Technological Idea: How a Community Network Database was Conceived
- Contributors
