The Internet and democratic citizenship : theory, practice and policy / Stephen Coleman, Jay G. Blumler.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Coleman, Stephen, 1957- author.

Blumler, Jay G., author.

Series:

Communication, society and politics.

Communication, society and politics

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political participation--Technological innovations--Great Britain.

Political participation.

Information technology--Political aspects--Great Britain.

Information technology.

Internet in public administration--Great Britain.

Internet in public administration.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (ix, 220 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Other Title:

The Internet & Democratic Citizenship

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Relations between the public and holders of political authority are in a period of transformative flux. On the one side, new expectations and meanings of citizenship are being entertained and occasionally acted upon. On the other, an inexorable impoverishment of mainstream political communication is taking place. This book argues that the Internet has the potential to improve public communications and enrich democracy, a project that requires imaginative policy-making. This argument is developed through three stages: first exploring the theoretical foundations for renewing democratic citizenship, then examining practical case studies of e-democracy, and finally, reviewing the limitations of recent policies designed to promote e-democracy and setting out a radical, but practical proposal for an online civic commons: a trusted public space where the dispersed energies, self-articulations and aspirations of citizens can be rehearsed, in public, within a process of ongoing feedback to the various levels and centers of governance: local, national and transnational.

Contents:

Introduction: anxiety and optimism about democracy

Democracy's deliberative deficit

A crisis of public communication

From indirect to direct representation

E-democracy from above

E-democracy from below

Shaping e-democracy

Realising the democratic potential of the internet.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references (p. 199-216) and index.

ISBN:

1-107-19506-3

0-511-81827-0

0-511-65026-4

0-511-53249-0

0-511-53158-3

0-511-53340-3

OCLC:

592756239