Cyberdemocracy: The Internet and the Public Sphere

Abstract

Considers the usefulness of postmodern theories to an analysis of the relation of the Internet to democracy. It is suggested that the primary difficulties in employing such theories is the inadequate development of a fully postmodern theory of politics & the persistence of democracy, a modern category, as a dominant political norm & ideal. However, despite their limitations, postmodern theories are an excellent starting point for examining cyberdemocracy, if only because the Internet deeply troubles basic assumptions of older positions. One path toward developing a postmodern theory of cyberdemocracy may be developed through the concept of the public sphere. Jurgen Habermas's (1989) model of the public sphere is rejected in favor of a model that stresses its contentious, gender, fractured nature. Viewed in this manner, the public sphere might be invigorated by the Internet because this technology radically decenters political speech &, thus, opens the possibility of greater cultural negotiation & conflict. The case of gender in Internet communication is discussed as an example of this process. It is concluded that, because the Internet reconfigures the practice of self-constitution in the public sphere, it also allows the reconfiguration of the political itself. 34 References. D. Ryfe