Democracy Online

The Prospects for Political Renewal Through the Internet

By: Peter M. Shane (Editor)

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Hardcover | 7 August 2004 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Hardcover
300 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.75

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Nearly every big city in America has an official website, and mid-size towns are finding a use for them too (the official homepage of East Lyme, Connecticut features zoning regulations and the tagline "Commitment to Quality Living in a Beautiful Town"). On countless message boards and web logs, local, national and international politics are hotly debated, and Howard Dean's surprising presidential campaign has demonstrated how to turn on-line enthusiasm into real money and flesh-and-blood supporters. The phenomenon of "electronic democracy" seems to hold the potential, perhaps more so than any previous form of communications network or political community, to promote and enhance real engagement and action among the world's citizenry.
What are the real opportunities and challenges most likely to arise from this on-line democracy? Does the medium really hold the potential to revitalize and redefine democracy?
Taking a multidisciplinary approach that they identify as a "cyber-realist research agenda," the contributors examine the prospects for electronic democracy in terms of its form and practice - while avoiding the pitfall of treating the benefits of electronic democracy as being self-evident. The debates question what electronic democracy needs to accomplish in order to revitalize democracy, and what the current state of electronic democracy can teach us about the challenges and opportunities for implementing democratic technology initiatives.
Ultimately, the contributors argue for a complex, multi-disciplinary approach to the theory behind the workings of e-democracy, as well as to the future development and expansion of technological initiatives to promote on-line democracy.

Industry Reviews

"Clearly written and well organized... An impressive number of authors who are also real-world policy practitioners. The authors stay largely on track, complete with conclusions that actually reach conclusions. The editor, Peter Shane, provides a brief but useful review of the essays, making his case for what he terms a "cyberrealist" approach to the possibilities of democracy online. Unlike some work in this field that gets bogged down in the details of the technology, this collection analyzes the actual or possible intersections of real political institutions and currently available hardware or software technologies that may affect the beliefs and behaviors of citizens, voters, and officeholders." --Perspectives on Politics

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