Από την αντιπροσωπευτική στην ψηφιακή δημοκρατία. Η δημοκρατία ως πεδίο της Νέας Πολιτικής

Abstract

Representative democracy and the democratic and social state and the rule of law are, without a doubt, the most significant institutional achievements of the last three centuries. Representative democracy and, more specifically, political representation is simultaneously the nucleus and the field of politics itself. However, in this age, the foundations of the representative system are unsteady, as its ability to function as the basic, reliable level on which society is synthesized, is being questioned. Many parallel systems for the representation of society have been formed and these act in competition with the democratic political system. These systems are mainly related to economic and communicational power, but also with single-issue agendas of “civil-society” organizations to the extent that these claim a political role. Gradually, the new symbolic fields for the composition of society are transferred from the parliament to the television news broadcasts and to the internet.
At the same time, with the multiplication and intensification of the actions of the “non-governmental organizations,” the “political man” is replaced by the “single-issue man” the latter whose political approach and actions are characterized by an approach that is very far from the “complex” political approach of the political parties, even when the latter have specific class and social approaches.
Despite all this, politics continues to be the single, available space in which the important problems of our age can be solved. These are linked with natural, ecological, social and economic dangers that demand the existence of an efficient mechanism of social, national, and international solidarity.