İletişim Teknolojisindeki Yenilikleri ve Temsili Demokrasinin Geleceği

Abstract

From the second half of the twentieth century onwards, the revolutions in communication technology made themself felt in the field of politics too. Especially the emergence of the internet at a time when objections against representative democracy were on the increase, gave rise to the expectations that a new political system as an alternative to representative government might be produced with the support of electronic technology. It is hoped that the features of the internet -that it is so cheap that many householders can purchase it, that it does away with the barri-er of distance and that it provides direct, non-mediatory and two-way communication- make it possible for the citi- zens to rule themselves directly and thus may possibly clear away the legitimacy problems in the representative system. However these naive assumptions rule out several effects which electronic democracy, in the sense that people are ruled by themselves directly, would cause such as the tyranny of majority over minority, people's easily manipulated by opinion leaders in the direction they desire, the difficulty of the masses in reaching a common decision and the low quality of quick and hastily decisions made by people. This article argues that contrary to previous assumptions, a direct democracy equipped with electronic technology is not a good idea and predicts that the new form which political democracy will take in the near future will be "electronic representative democracy" in the sense of a representative democracy in which referendums frequently take place on basic issues. .