The international conference and research projectabout direct democracy draws attention to the as-pects of communication and information, asking how democratic processes and instruments are impacted by technological innovation. In so doing, it focuses on the examples of Switzerland and Italy. One country is typically seen as the ‘gold standard for direct democracy’ (David Altman), while the other currently pushes for significant reforms that are inspired by direct democratic models of government. For this purpose, ex-perts from the fields of politics, political sciences, history, civic initiatives, and NGO’s are required toinves-tigate the challenges and opportunities for direct democracy in a digital world.The digitalrevolution of the 21stcentury fundamentally changes the ways governments, political parties, voters and other politically rel-evant players interact with one another. Changing strategies of campaigning and political mobilization offer citizens new opportunities to engage in political debates and participate in popular votes and elections. Modern information technologies provide novel means of shaping the political discourse, giving previously voiceless masses a way to express opinions and political interest groups immediate access to their target audience. Likewise, electronic tools of government emerge promising a more direct, transparent and effi-cient interaction between citizens and governmental bodies. These developments have a major impact on the processes of democratic decision-making –on how consensus or compromise can be reached and how conflicts are being negotiated.Ultimately, technology seems to endorse the model of direct democracy, since the progressing digitalizationcalls into question the participatory processes of representative democ-racy, which still remains the prevailing form of government in the world. Proceeding from a historical and theoretical perspective, this eventually prompts a reflection about the ideas and institutions linked to direct democracy and representative democracy: do the new technologies represent a turning point for the fu-ture of democracy?
La democrazia diretta tra passato e futuro. Storia, modelli e sfide della democrazia diretta nell’era digitale/ Past, Present and Future of Direct Democracy. History, models and challenges of direct democracy in the digital era
Natascia Mattucci
2018-01-01
Abstract
The international conference and research projectabout direct democracy draws attention to the as-pects of communication and information, asking how democratic processes and instruments are impacted by technological innovation. In so doing, it focuses on the examples of Switzerland and Italy. One country is typically seen as the ‘gold standard for direct democracy’ (David Altman), while the other currently pushes for significant reforms that are inspired by direct democratic models of government. For this purpose, ex-perts from the fields of politics, political sciences, history, civic initiatives, and NGO’s are required toinves-tigate the challenges and opportunities for direct democracy in a digital world.The digitalrevolution of the 21stcentury fundamentally changes the ways governments, political parties, voters and other politically rel-evant players interact with one another. Changing strategies of campaigning and political mobilization offer citizens new opportunities to engage in political debates and participate in popular votes and elections. Modern information technologies provide novel means of shaping the political discourse, giving previously voiceless masses a way to express opinions and political interest groups immediate access to their target audience. Likewise, electronic tools of government emerge promising a more direct, transparent and effi-cient interaction between citizens and governmental bodies. These developments have a major impact on the processes of democratic decision-making –on how consensus or compromise can be reached and how conflicts are being negotiated.Ultimately, technology seems to endorse the model of direct democracy, since the progressing digitalizationcalls into question the participatory processes of representative democ-racy, which still remains the prevailing form of government in the world. Proceeding from a historical and theoretical perspective, this eventually prompts a reflection about the ideas and institutions linked to direct democracy and representative democracy: do the new technologies represent a turning point for the fu-ture of democracy?I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
