IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/zbw/iprjir/250403.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Digital democracy

Author

Listed:
  • Berg, Sebastian
  • Hofmann, Jeanette

Abstract

For contemporary societies, digital democracy provides a key concept that denotes, in our understanding, the relationship between collective self-government and mediating digital infrastructures. New forms of digital engagement that go hand in hand with organisational reforms are re-intermediating established democratic settings in open-ended ways that defy linear narratives of demise or renewal. As a first approach, we trace the history of digital democracy against the background of its specific media constellations, describing continuities and discontinuities in the interplay of technological change and aspirations for democratisation. Thereafter, we critically review theoretical premises concerning the role of technology and how they vary in the way the concept of digital democracy is deployed. In four domains, we show the contingent political conditions under which the relationship between forms of democratic self-determination and its mediating digital infrastructures evolve. One lesson to learn from these four domains is that democratic self-governance is a profoundly mediated project whose institutions and practices are constantly in flux.

Suggested Citation

  • Berg, Sebastian & Hofmann, Jeanette, 2021. "Digital democracy," Internet Policy Review: Journal on Internet Regulation, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), Berlin, vol. 10(4), pages 1-23.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:iprjir:250403
    DOI: 10.14763/2021.4.1612
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/250403/1/1794123555.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.14763/2021.4.1612?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cardon, Dominique & Cardon, Christophe, 2007. "The Strength of Weak Cooperation:an Attempt to Understand the Meaning of Web 2.0," MPRA Paper 4581, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Hofmann, Jeanette, 2019. "Mediated democracy – Linking digital technology to political agency," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 8(2), pages 1-18.
    3. Haggart, Blayne & Iglesias Keller, Clara, 2021. "Democratic legitimacy in global platform governance," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 45(6), pages 1-1.
    4. Emiliana De Blasio & Lorenzo Viviani, 2020. "Platform Party between Digital Activism and Hyper-Leadership: The Reshaping of the Public Sphere," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(4), pages 16-27.
    5. Ulbricht, Lena, 2020. "Scraping the demos. Digitalization, web scraping and the democratic project," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 27(3), pages 426-442.
    6. Bennett, Colin J. & Lyon, David, 2019. "Data-driven elections: implications and challenges for democratic societies," Internet Policy Review: Journal on Internet Regulation, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), Berlin, vol. 8(4), pages 1-16.
    7. Epstein, Dmitry & Katzenbach, Christian & Musiani, Francesca, 2016. "Doing internet governance: practices, controversies, infrastructures, and institutions," Internet Policy Review: Journal on Internet Regulation, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), Berlin, vol. 5(3), pages 1-14.
    8. Emiliana De Blasio & Michele Sorice, 2018. "Populism between direct democracy and the technological myth," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 4(1), pages 1-11, December.
    9. Haggart, Blayne & Keller, Clara Iglesias, 2021. "Democratic legitimacy in global platform governance," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(6).
    10. David Stark & Ivana Pais, 2021. "Algorithmic Management in the Platform Economy," Economia & lavoro, Carocci editore, issue 3, pages 57-80.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Abate, Gashaw T. & Abay, Kibrom A. & Chamberlin, Jordan & Kassim, Yumna & Spielman, David J. & Paul Jr Tabe-Ojong, Martin, 2023. "Digital tools and agricultural market transformation in Africa: Why are they not at scale yet, and what will it take to get there?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Berg, Sebastian & Hofmann, Jeanette, 2021. "Digital democracy," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 10(4), pages 1-23.
    2. Berg, Sebastian & Hofmann, Jeanette, 2022. "Democracia Digital," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue Número Es, pages 1-26.
    3. Isuru Koswatte & Chandrika Fernando, 2022. "Policy Development for Crisis Management in the Context of Sri Lanka," Managing Global Transitions, University of Primorska, Faculty of Management Koper, vol. 20(3 (Fall)), pages 295-327.
    4. Dvoskin, Brenda, 2023. "Expertise and Participation in the Facebook Oversight Board: From Reason to Will," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(5).
    5. Jesús C. Aguerri & Fernando Miró-Llinares & Ana B. Gómez-Bellvís, 2023. "Consensus on community guidelines: an experimental study on the legitimacy of content removal in social media," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11, December.
    6. Hongyang He & Bin Zhang, 2022. "Effective Synergy of Market Agents: The Core of Achieving Multi-Agent Governance on the Internet Platform," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-20, December.
    7. Iglesias Keller, Clara, 2021. "Don’t Shoot the Message: Regulating Disinformation Beyond Content," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 18(99), pages 486-515.
    8. Staab, Philipp & Thiel, Thorsten, 2022. "Social Media and the Digital Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 39(4), pages 129-143.
    9. Berg, Sebastian & König, Tim & Koster, Ann-Kathrin, 2020. "Political Opinion Formation as Epistemic Practice: The Hashtag Assemblage of #metwo," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 8(4), pages 84-95.
    10. Sebastian Berg & Tim König & Ann-Kathrin Koster, 2020. "Political Opinion Formation as Epistemic Practice: The Hashtag Assemblage of #metwo," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(4), pages 84-95.
    11. Olga I. Timofeeva, 2022. "Methodology and Results of Measuring the Transparency of Russian Regional Budgets," Finansovyj žhurnal — Financial Journal, Financial Research Institute, Moscow 125375, Russia, issue 6, pages 44-58, December.
    12. Paris Chrysos, 2011. "An organisational design approach of business environments: the case of Barcamps milieu in Paris," Post-Print halshs-00796937, HAL.
    13. Staab, Philipp & Thiel, Thorsten, 2021. "Privatisierung ohne Privatismus. Soziale Medien im digitalen Strukturwandel der Öffentlichkeit [Privatization without Privatism. Social Media and the Digital Transformation of the Public Sphere]," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 0, pages 277-297.
    14. Dirk Ulrich Gilbert & Stephanie Schrage & Michael Behnam, 2024. "Advancing the Moral legitimacy of digital platforms as gatekeepers: a critical analysis from a political corporate social responsibility perspective," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 94(7), pages 1115-1145, October.
    15. Yuriy V. Belousov, 2022. "Transparent Budget in the System of Public Administration," Finansovyj žhurnal — Financial Journal, Financial Research Institute, Moscow 125375, Russia, issue 4, pages 79-91, August.
    16. Julia Rone, 2023. "Beyond Brexit? Public Participation in Decision-Making on Campaign Data During and After Referendum Campaigns," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(1), pages 69-80.
    17. Kerr, Aphra & Musiani, Francesca & Pohle, Julia, 2019. "Editorial – Communication and internet policy: a critical rights-based history and future," Internet Policy Review: Journal on Internet Regulation, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), Berlin, vol. 8(1), pages 1-16.
    18. Radu, Roxana & Kettemann, Matthias C. & Meyer, Trisha & Shahin, Jamal, 2021. "Normfare: Norm entrepreneurship in internet governance," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(6).
    19. Lena Ulbricht & Karen Yeung, 2022. "Algorithmic regulation: A maturing concept for investigating regulation of and through algorithms," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(1), pages 3-22, January.
    20. Alex Luscombe & Kevin Dick & Kevin Walby, 2022. "Algorithmic thinking in the public interest: navigating technical, legal, and ethical hurdles to web scraping in the social sciences," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 1023-1044, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:iprjir:250403. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://policyreview.info/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.