Virtual democratic dialogue? Bringing together citizens and politicians

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Jensen, Jakob Linaa^a

Affiliations: [a] Department of Political Science, University of Aarhus, Universitetsparken, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark. Tel.: +45 89421260; Fax: +45 86139839; E-mail: Jakob.linaa@ps.au.dk

Abstract: How to realize the potential of the Internet for creating virtual public spheres for democratic dialogue has been widely discussed. It has been argued that government should play a more active role in that process. This paper examines a Danish case sponsored by a local government where citizens and politicians were invited to debate via the Internet. It is concluded that the project was quite a success. The overall tone of the debate was respectful and the levels of argumentation, information and deliberation were generally high. Further, the presence of politicians created a debate space consisting of two dimensions and five relations. Two main processes took place within that space: general debates and consultation processes between citizens and politicians. As such, the project achieved a double purpose. Problematically, the project did not succeed in mobilising new groups for political debate. Further, it was a tendency that the politicians tended to dominate the debate leaving less space for debates among citizens.

Keywords: public spheres, deliberation, consultation, E-democracy

DOI: 10.3233/IP-2003-0025

Journal: Information Polity, vol. 8, no. 1-2, pp. 29-47, 2003