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THE DEMOCRATIC POTENTIAL OF ICT SUCH AS INTERNET IS OFTEN LINKED WITH ACCESS TO INFORMATION, TRANSPARENCY, AND OPEN DISCUSSION, ALL OF WHICH ARE NECESSARY CONDITIONS FOR DEMOCRACY. THERE IS A CONCEPT OF DEMOCRACY THAT IGNORES PROCESSES OF POLITICAL MANAGEMENT AND SOCIETAL LOGICS THAT ARE NOT DEMOCRATIC. DEMOCRACY AND ICT MUST BE CONSIDERED AT THE SAME TIME. TO DO THIS, THE ARTICLE IDENTIFIES FOUR FLAWS OF LIBERAL DEMOCRACY AND SUGGESTS TWO WAYS OF USING ICT.

Since the 2016 US presidential election, the deliberate spread of misinformation online, and on social media in particular, has generated extraordinary concern, in large part because of its potential effects on public opinion, political polarization, and ultimately democratic decision making. Recently, however, a handful of papers have argued that both the prevalence and consumption of "fake news" per se is extremely low compared with other types of news and news-relevant content. Although neither prevalence nor consumption is a direct measure of influence, this work suggests that proper understanding of misinformation and its effects requires a much broader view of the problem, encompassing biased and misleading—but not necessarily factually incorrect—information that is routinely produced or amplified by mainstream news organizations. In this paper, we propose an ambitious collective research agenda to measure the origins, nature, and prevalence of misinformation, broadly construed, as well as its impact on democracy. We also sketch out some illustrative examples of completed, ongoing, or planned research projects that contribute to this agenda.

Scholars and policy makers have long assumed that trade and financial liberalization encourages developing countries to become more democratic; yet no one has developed formal hypotheses about the causal relationship between globalization and democracy. This article shows that these two trends are indeed related, but not necessarily in the direct manner that has commonly been postulated. Combining theories of embedded liberalism and conflict‐based theories of democracy, the model presented here depicts the process that affects decisions to strengthen democracy as trade and capital flows increase. I argue that increasing exposure to international export and financial markets leads to improvements in democracy if safety nets are used simultaneously as a strategy for providing stability and building political support. Empirical evidence is provided by econometric analysis covering 59 developing countries for the time period 1972–97.

It is often maintained that democracy is a luxury that comes at a price in terms of subsequent slower increases in national living standards. However, various recent cross-sectional studies on economic growth have found evidence that lack of civil & political liberties is negatively correlated with economic growth. Here, using a new measure of democracy based on the number of years that a country can be regarded as a democracy, the robustness of this relationship is examined using data from several statistical sources, 1961-1992, for 110 countries. Both direct & indirect effects of lack of democratic liberties are analyzed, & it is concluded that the relationship between democracy & economic growth is not robust. 5 Tables, 1 Appendix, 47 References. Adapted from the source document.

Despite all the efforts after twenty years, Albania is still considered a transitional government or hybrid regime (Freedom House, 2013). Direct participation of citizens in decision making through referendums is a tool to raise the level of public awareness and encourage critical debate of local community concerns among different actors of the society. Local referendums have the advantage to increase critical mass debate about the concern question raised. However, it is often argued that referendums are problematic because they weaken representative democracy. The notion of referendum implies the coexistence of representative institutions such as local councils and the procedures for the intervention of direct participation of the citizens. Seeing the fact that our representatives are far from representing citizens interests and also the fact of the citizens' apathy, this paper argues that local referendums help to develop local democracy, promoting direct participation and human rights values.

Despite all the efforts after twenty years, Albania is still considered a transitional government or hybrid regime (Freedom House, 2013). Direct participation of citizens in decision making through referendums is a tool to raise the level of public awareness and encourage critical debate of local community concerns among different actors of the society. Local referendums have the advantage to increase critical mass debate about the concern question raised. However, it is often argued that referendums are problematic because they weaken representative democracy. The notion of referendum implies the coexistence of representative institutions such as local councils and the procedures for the intervention of direct participation of the citizens. Seeing the fact that our representatives are far from representing citizens interests and also the fact of the citizens' apathy, this paper argues that local referendums help to develop local democracy, promoting direct participation and human rights values.Read Complete Article at ijSciences: V3201411602

Since the 2016 US presidential election, the deliberate spread of misinformation online, and on social media in particular, has generated extraordinary concern, in large part because of its potential effects on public opinion, political polarization, and ultimately democratic decision making. Recently, however, a handful of papers have argued that both the prevalence and consumption of "fake news" per se is extremely low compared with other types of news and news-relevant content. Although neither prevalence nor consumption is a direct measure of influence, this work suggests that proper understanding of misinformation and its effects requires a much broader view of the problem, encompassing biased and misleading—but not necessarily factually incorrect—information that is routinely produced or amplified by mainstream news organizations. In this paper, we propose an ambitious collective research agenda to measure the origins, nature, and prevalence of misinformation, broadly construed, as well as its impact on democracy. We also sketch out some illustrative examples of completed, ongoing, or planned research projects that contribute to this agenda.

Статья посвящена современным проблемам развития местного управления в США. Анализируются такие вопросы, как раздробленность муниципальной системы США, множественность управленческих и территориальных структур, кризис городских центров. Рассматриваются особенности развития окраинных городов и пригородов, анализируются формы и перспективы прямой демократии на местах. ; The article deals with modern problems of local government's development in the United States. The author analyses such problems as fragmentation of American municipal system, multiplicity of governmental and territorial structures, crisis of central cities. The article also deals with particular features of development of edge cities and suburbs as well as with forms and perspectives of direct democracy at the grassroots.

Indonesia as a democratic country has entered the era of the millennium in the implementation of general elections simultaneously, it is necessary to utilize computer technology using the Electronic-Voting (E-Voting) method. Several regions in Indonesia have used the E-Voting method as a means of democracy which is applied at the hamlet and village head election levels. Village Head election policy with E-Voting as a new means of democracy through a touch of the monitor screen and E-Verification through voters' E-KTP. For example: Pemalang Regency (Ujunggede Village), Jembrana Regency in Bali (Mendoyo Dangin Tukad Village). Elections through e-voting must be designed as best as possible to realize the principles of direct elections, namely direct, general, free, secret (overflow) and honest and fair (fair) in direct elections. Electronic voting systems (e-voting) must be taken seriously and ensure transparency, certainty, security, accountability, and accuracy. In addition to technology readiness, of course, it must be supported by the readiness of the community in implementing this e-voting system in the future. The government's unpreparedness and lack of socialization of e-voting can also be a factor triggering failure in implementing this system.

Although public support for political authorities, institutions, and even regimes is affected by the delivery of positive economic outcomes, we know that judgments on authorities are also made on the basis of several other aspects that fall into the general theme of "procedural fairness." So far, most of the literature examining satisfaction with democracy has, from this point of view, focused on the direct effects of both economic and procedural fairness indicators or evaluations. This study takes as its starting point a large number of studies in social psychology showing that procedural fairness moderates the effects of outcome favorability in the explanation of citizens' reactions to authorities. It expands those findings to the macro-political level, using representative samples of European populations in twenty-nine countries. It reveals that the general depiction of satisfaction with the way democracies work in practice as a fundamentally "performance-driven attitude" needs to qualified: economic evaluations matter, but they do not matter in the same way in all contexts and for all people, with procedural fairness playing a relevant moderating role in this respect.

This article is part of the special cluster titled Political Parties and Direct Democracy in Eastern Europe, guest-edited by Sergiu Gherghina. The instrumental use of referendums by political parties has already been acknowledged in earlier studies showing how parties in government used direct democracy tools to promote their policies and to gain legitimacy, while parties in opposition sought to augment their image in the eyes of the public. However, opposition parties may have another potential reason to promote referendums on top of their quest for a better public image: The topic of the referendum could be a legacy of their own government. This article reveals how this mechanism works by focusing on the first referendum at the national level in post-communist Bulgaria in 2013. It shows how the Bulgarian Socialist Party, in opposition at the time of the referendum, pursued a policy initiated when it was in office. We use primary data to investigate the extent to which the rhetoric of the party during the referendum campaign served as the basis for subsequent electoral campaigns.