Democracy in the Digital Era

“the people’s government”

Democracy Democracy as a form of government is one of the most significant creations of Western civilization in terms of politics.

It is a system that grants citizens both power and responsibility over political choices

Democracies are understood as freedom institutionalized into liberties

Government of the people, by the people and for the people.

Difficulties in maintenance of democracy

Voters are extremely uninformed about many political issues

Political instability

False democracies

Digital Era

With communications across the globe

Humankind is faced with a growing dependence on technologic systems

Mass media – television, radio, newspapers and

Social networks – Facebook and Twitter

Relationship with information in the Digital Era

Excess of information

Subinformation is the impoverishment of information

Disinformation is the distortion of information

False sense of knowledge

Democracy and the Digital Era

``The TV weakens our ability to think abstractly and with it all our ability to understanding. Ex Homo sapiens is Homo videns „ Giovanni Sartori’s

Dependent as it is on citizens information for its maintenance,

democracy has been deeply affected by the rising presence of

mass media and social networks as political trendsetters.

Our civilization has been running on a myth of democracy ever since the expansion of mass media.

Whereas more focused on an ideal of horizontal communication

Thus, uninformed (or poorly informed) citizens make the choices that will alter

the political life of whole countries based mainly on opinions deriving from vertical communication; i.e., on data and reports

that are sent from smaller groups in positions of power toward the population at large with insignificant participation of

such audience in the information-gathering process.

Where audience and source are more evenly matched in their stand before information, social networks are frequently as unreliable as mass

media. Instant reproduction/spread of content and intense lack of proper contextualization allow social networks to become birthplaces for

myths and other such phony material that increases levels of subinformation and disinformation regarding vital areas of political life.

One million and a half people in 19 capitals and more than 100 Brazilian

cities left to the streets protesting

Free Pass Movement São Paulo (MPL) Wishing to change the social injustices present in Brazil and corruption, are the

result of intolerance of the rulers

Subjects became the sources of information that traverses the network, accompanied by judgments that instigate social activism because they raise the

level of general awareness

Ecuador – Electoral Control

Creates identification with people.

Catch attention through the mass media.

Good construction of message

Egypt – Lotus Revolution

• Egyptian Spring (January/February 2011) is an echo of mobilizations in Tunisia that overthrew the government of that country.

• The population of Egypt felt deeply dissatisfied with social and economic policies of dictator Mubarak.

• Tahrir Square became the main gathering for the protesters who were brought together through social networks.

Egypt – Lotus Revolution

• Social network was not the reason for the protests, but a catalyst for the dissatisfaction of the people

• Official media in Egypt was government-controlled – it aimed to make the revolution pointless after Mubarak fell from power

Russia – Electoral Fraud

• Russian government was accused of fraud in the 2011 legislative elections

• Russian blogs and social networks showed immediate reaction against the unreliable result

• People gathered in many Russian cities in order to protest

Conclusion

As technology has evolved into a factor that is irreversibly connected to political events, the rising “video-democracy” should become more of a means to integrate people as it enables citizens to form educated opinions and to increase awareness and participation in political life. Furthermore, it is vital to avoid that technology be used as an instrument of control and indoctrination so democracy can last in the current state of technology.