Democratisation and Networked Communication (original) (raw)

In this essay I will argue that the advent of the internet has not necessarily translated into greater political participation. I will begin my essay by exploring some concepts of democracy where I rely primarily on the work of Donatella Della Porta (2013) in her book Can Democracy be Saved? The democratizing potential of the net is at best limited to online “interaction”, where users access information, express opinions and generate, share and comment on content which does not constitute actual political participation or engagement. The digital divide is also an important issue that lends itself to the debate. Although valid arguments may exist that purport that the internet is rekindling democracy, there is no concrete empirical proof the dawn of the digital age has led to greater democratization. Though I explore aspects of participatory and deliberative democracy, my argument will focus more on democracy as being understood as liberal democracy (Della Porta, 2013).I will use the work of Bruce Bimber and Lauren Copeland (2013), Digital media and traditional political participation over time in the U.S. on Obama’s presidential election campaign as an example to support my argument.