Designing Virtual Citizens
Some Scottish Experiments with Electronic Democracy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12286755 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Neal Ascherson (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2003 |
| Volume | 43 (First Serie |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 1-42 |
| Publication date | 2003-05-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Scottish Affairs (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0966-0356 • E-ISSN: 2053-888X |
| Publisher | Edinburgh University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.3366/scot.2003.0019 |
| OpenAlex | W1982893297 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 4 |
GENERAL: PROBLEMS AND QUESTIONS Western democracy: Is it disintegrating? There is a widespread assumption that public participation in social and political affairs is declining, at least in the Western world. This decline is declared to be evident in two main areas. The first is the arena of democratic politics. The second covers the myriad unofficial associations which go to make up civic networks, sometimes defined as 'civil society' and often stated to be the locus of so-called 'social capital* - a society's resources of capacity for solidarity, joint action and mutual support. Two factors - either or both - are usually blamed for this decline. One is the general (but not universal) increase in personal wealth and resources. The other is the growing 'privatisation' of personal life - not least through new techniques of communication - which is supposed to be rendering traditional face-to-face association superfluous. There are laments for the alleged passing-away of the 'active citizen'. He or she is defined as somebody prepared as a matter of course to engage with others in public or social activity, intended to defend a community, to fight against perceived injustice or to bring about reform and change. This engagement can happen at any level from that of a housing scheme to the global environment
Democracy · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Sociology · Irish and British Studies · Law · Public Administration · Social Capital and Networks · Social Media and Politics
| Highly cited | No |
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