Історико-політичні проблеми сучасного світу (Jun 2022)
Update of Methodological Principles for Studying Political Participation of Citizens in the Conditions of Digitalization of Democratic Political Process
Abstract
The article presents the results of a study of the main trends in updating the methodological principles for studying the political participation of citizens in the context of the digitalization of the democratic political process. It has been established that in modern political science, e-democracy is a term by which scientists describe a wide range of practices of online involvement of citizens in political decision-making. The relationship we established between the concept of e-democracy and classical models of democracy, which indicate the specific content of political participation, indicates that e-democracy is based on models of participatory democracy and deliberative democracy. It is substantiated that due to the potential of e-democracy in the formation of new ways of communication between citizens and actors in the political space, its tools of political participation begin to integrate into the subject space of the liberal model of democracy, in which the political participation of citizens is deployed in social networks, therefore it has a decentralized nature and status. instrumental value. The analysis of the content of scientific discussions regarding the relationship between the categories of e-democracy and digital democracy in the context of the problem of political participation proved that the term digital democracy better reflects the essence of digitalization processes in the political space, but it is used as synonymous with the term e-democracy. Political participation by means of digital democracy involves a combination of virtual and traditional instruments of influence on the political system, while in the classical approaches of democracy, e-participation is defined as the result of the evolution of forms of citizen participation in politics. It is proved that the process of digitalization of democracy determined the need to update the methodological principles of the study the influence of mobilization practices on the nature of political participation. The conceptualization of this problem is most fully realized by van Dijk, who means digital mobilization practices as a mechanism for updating the connection between the functions, forms and tools of political participation, which clearly demonstrates that digital democracy is a way to improve the quality and legitimacy of political decision-making.
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