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Slides used in the MAC309 Web Studies module on the role of digital democracy
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Grassroots poli+cs, democracy and the Internet
MAC309
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Theories of democracy Delibera+ve democracy
Representa+ve democracy
Pluralist democracy
Par+cipatory democracy
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Delibera+ve democracy ‘Delibera+ve democracy refers to a specific form of par+cipa+on: informed discussion between individuals about issues which concern them, leading to some form of consensus and collec+ve decision. To come to a collec+ve decision, minds must be changed as a consequence of delibera+on: this is the key difference between delibera+ve theories of democracy and those in the representa+ve or direct vein.’
(Wright & Street, 2007: 850‐1)
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Delibera+ve democracy ‘Delibera+ve democracy refers to a specific form of par+cipa+on: informed discussion between individuals about issues which concern them, leading to some form of consensus and collec+ve decision. To come to a collec+ve decision, minds must be changed as a consequence of delibera+on: this is the key difference between delibera+ve theories of democracy and those in the representa+ve or direct vein.’
(Wright & Street, 2007: 850‐1)
Register preferences/opinions, but also have space to discuss them
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Representa+ve democracy Voices are frequently mediated through poli+cal spokespersons.
They are charged with the responsibility of ac+ng in the people's interest, but not as their proxy representa+ves;
Do not always act according to their wishes, but with enough authority to exercise swi^ judgement in the face of changing circumstances.
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Pluralist democracy Pluralis+c democracy rests on the liberal no+on of se`ng aside space for compe+ng interests and viewpoints
Frequently uneven terrain of poli+cal contest (power and economics)
However, it is inclusive featuring public contesta+on, vo+ng, lobbying, mul+ple voices
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Par+cipatory democracy Aka direct democracy
Linked to community‐based decision‐making approaches to governance (labour/trade movements and global rights ac+vists)
Calls for all members to make meaningful contribu+ons to decision‐making rather than acquiescing to hierarchies
However, hierarchies do exist and may be masked
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Which system of democracy does the UK fit into?
Delibera+ve democracy
Representa+ve democracy
Pluralist democracy
Par+cipatory democracy
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Which system of democracy does the UK fit into?
Delibera+ve democracy
Representa+ve democracy?
Pluralist democracy?
Par+cipatory democracy
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Internet’s role in shaping democra+c ac+on 2 opposing lines of thought
Can facilitate new forms of poli+cal engagement and par+cipa+on (Web Cameron, MyBO, etc)
Internet is becoming increasingly aligned with commercial interests (eg the priva+sa+on of Internet content and corporate gatekeeping) and moving further away from its original concep+on
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Pessimism? Dan Schiller (1999) Digital Capitalism, claims Internet networks increasingly serve the aims of transna+onal corpora+ons via strict priva+za+on of content and unregulated transborder data flow.
Lawrence Lessig (2001; 2002; 2004; 2008), laments the death of the public domain or the ‘commons’ at the hands of rampant copyright extension
Net neutrality arguments
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Op+mism? ‘Despite commercial encroachment, internet technology has opened up poli+cal opportuni+es for par+cipatory democracy and bomom‐up poli+cal forms’ (Pickard, 2008: 627)
Enabled previously marginalised voices to engage with electoral poli+cs, thus reinvigora+ng civil society
Emergence of Internet‐based ac+vism to mobilise collec+ve ac+on
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Lowering the costs of par+cipa+on Lower costs of organizing collec+ve ac+on offered by the internet will be par+cularly beneficial for one type of group: those outside the boundaries of tradi+onal private and public ins+tu+ons, those not rooted in business, professional or occupa+onal memberships or the cons+tuencies of exis+ng government agencies and programs. (Bimber,1998:156)
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Bridge the ‘digital divide’? Claims to do so not always what they seem
O^en part of ‘a dominant discourse of capitalist consumer rela+ons and liberal‐individualis+c poli+cs’ (Dahlberg, 2007: 838)
The Internet is promoted as an excellent tool for helping facilitate economic and poli+cal transac+ons, rather than the cons+tu+ve space for radical poli+cs
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Asymmetries in offline social, cultural and economic capital lead to asymmetries between voices online?
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Challenge the status quo? Rheingold (2002) ‘Smart Mobs’ using personally mediated communica+on technology to spur on ac+on
Jewim (2005): Philippine president Joseph Estrada deposed by mass protest groups mobilised by SMS texts. 100 million+ texts led to protest.
Pickard (2008): 1999 WTO protests in Seamle – digital hack+vism
Cannon (2009): 2004 Spanish elec+ons ousted Aznar
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Ideals of delibera+ve democracy A strong democracy, enabling the voicing of different diverse views on any issue, by publically‐orientated ci+zens who scru+nise power and become sovereign (see Dahlberg, 2007)
Too o^en issues of funding, ideological bias and self‐interest have prevented the mass media from mee+ng the challenge of the public sphere.
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Ideals of delibera+ve democracy A strong democracy, enabling the voicing of different diverse views on any issue, by publically‐orientated ci+zens who scru+nise power and become sovereign (see Dahlberg, 2007)
Too o^en issues of funding, ideological bias and self‐interest have prevented the mass media from mee+ng the challenge of the public sphere.
Internet as ‘public sphere’ (a^er Habermas)
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Ideals of delibera+ve democracy A strong democracy, enabling the voicing of different diverse views on any issue, by publically‐orientated ci+zens who scru+nise power and become sovereign (see Dahlberg, 2007)
Too o^en issues of funding, ideological bias and self‐interest have prevented the mass media from mee+ng the challenge of the public sphere.
‘offering ci+zens the opportunity to encounter and engage with a huge diversity of posi+ons, thus extending the public sphere’ (Dahlberg, 2007: 828)
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Fragmented public? ‘much online interac+on simply involves the mee+ng of “like‐minded” individuals’ (Dahlberg, 2007: 828) who fall into ‘delibera+ve enclaves’
Produces a fragmented sphere of debate
Similar interests flock together, repeat and reinforce exis+ng beliefs
Filter info; users ‘self‐select’ material they are comfortable with; bookmark or subscribe to sites which reinforce their pos++on
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Contested public? ‘internet users are not insula+ng themselves in informa+on echo chambers. Instead, they are exposed to more poli+cal arguments than nonusers (Horrigan et al, 2004: i‐ii)
Search for arguments, but work towards ra+onale debate?
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Task Visit some of the following sites (see next few slides)
What kinds of democra+c ac+on are each of these sites enabling?
To what extent are they successful in enabling democra+c ac+on?
How do they encourage par+cipa+on?
Read Barack Obama’s social media toolkit (on WebCT) What does this tell you about the poten+al for Internet plauorms to engage the public in par+cipatory democra+c ac+on?
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The Associa+on for Progressive Communica+ons www.apc.org
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Witness www.witness.org
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openDemocracy hmp://www.opendemocracy.net/
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e‐democracy hmp://e‐democracy.org/
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e‐democracy UK www.e‐democracy.org/uk/
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Centre for Digital Democracy hmp://www.democra+cmedia.org/
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Open Forum hmp://www.openforum.com.au/
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Human Rights Interest hmp://www.hri.ca/
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IndyMedia www.indymedia.org
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Global Voices hmp://globalvoicesonline.org/
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Stop the War www.stopwar.org.uk
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Move On www.moveon.org
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Sources and further reading B. Bimber, 1998, ‘The Internet and Poli+cal Transforma+on: Populism, Community, and Accelerated Pluralism’, Polity
31(1):133–60. L. Dahlberg, 2007, ‘Rethinking the fragmenta+on of the cyberpublic: from consensus to contesta+on’, New Media &
Society, Vol 9, No 5: 827‐ 847 Edelman, 2009, ‘The Social Pulpit: Barack Obama’s Social Media Toolkit’,
hmp://www.edelman.com/image/insights/content/Social%20Pulpit%20‐%20Barack%20Obamas%20Social%20Media%20Toolkit%201.09.pdf
R. Jewim, 2005 'Mobile Networks ‐ Globalisa+on, networks and the mobile phone' in C. Cornut‐Gen+lle (ed), Culture and Power: Culture and Society In The Age of GlobalisaCon, Prensas Universitarias de Zaragoza, Spain.
S. Marmura, 2008, ‘A net advantage? The internet, grassroots ac+vism and American Middle‐Eastern Policy’, New Media & Society, Vol 10, No 2: 247‐271
Z. Papacharissi, 2002, ‘The virtual sphere: The internet as a public sphere’, New Media & Society, Vol 4, No 1: 9‐27 V. Pickard, 2008, ‘Coopta+on and coopera+on: ins+tu+onal exemplers of democra+c internet technology’, Vol 10, No
4: 625‐645. H. Rheingold, 1993, The Virtual Community: hmp://www.rheingold.com/vc/book/4.html H. Rheingold, 2002, Smart Mobs: The next social revoluCon, Perseus Books M. A. Wall, 2007, ‘Social movements and email: expressions of online iden+ty in the globaliza+on protests’, New
Media & Society, Vol 9, No 2: 258‐277. S. Wright & J. Street, 2007, ‘Democracy, delibera+on and design: the case of online discussion forums’, New Media &
Society, Vol 9, No 5: 849‐869
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