Deliberative Democracy in the Age of Social Media | Democracia deliberativa na Era das Redes Sociais

Teresa Völker
2019 Publicum  
The potential of the social media to foster democracy and to strengthen grassroots participation has been widely and controversially discussed. This paper contributes to empirical as well as theoretical research by providing an in-depth analysis of political deliberation on social media. I will explore new paths to improve the quality of political deliberation and to apply and further develop deliberative democratic theory in the age of social media. My vision for a democratic internet is
more » ... ed by Fishkin's (2011; proposal that large-scale deliberative democracy could solve the democratic trilemma which is the pattern of conflict to realise all three key premises of democracy -political equality, deliberation and mass participation. My research goal is to explore which factors influence the quality of political discourses and large-scale deliberation on social media platforms. Based on Habermas and other deliberative democratic scholars, I adapt the deliberative democratic theory to the digital context and propose a set of normative standards (rationality, reciprocity, diversity, respect and inclusion) to evaluate the current quality and shape of online discussions. The findings highlight that online deliberation is embedded in a multi-layered context and the quality of deliberation is determined by the interplay of the socio-technical infrastructure, the political context, the legal framework and the participants of discourses. The analysis of social media platforms, such as Facebook, indicates that deliberation could be better implemented on publicly administered (new) platforms. Abstract O potencial das redes sociais para promover a democracia e fortalecer a participação popular tem sido ampla e controversa. Este artigo contribui para pesquisas empíricas e teóricas, fornecendo uma análise aprofundada da deliberação política nas redes sociais. Explorarei novos caminhos para melhorar a qualidade da deliberação política e aplicar e desenvolver a teoria democrática deliberativa na era das redes sociais. Minha visão para uma Internet democrática é inspirada na proposta de Fishkin (2011; 2018) de que a democracia deliberativa em larga escala poderia resolver o trilema democrático que é o padrão de conflito para realizar todas as três premissas principais da democracia -igualdade política, deliberação e participação em massa. Meu objetivo de pesquisa é explorar quais fatores influenciam a qualidade dos discursos políticos e as deliberações em larga escala nas plataformas de rede social. Com base em Habermas e outros estudiosos democráticos deliberativos, adapto a teoria democrática deliberativa ao contexto digital e proponho um conjunto de padrões normativos (racionalidade, reciprocidade, diversidade, respeito e inclusão) para avaliar a qualidade e a forma atuais das discussões online. As conclusões destacam que a deliberação online está inserida em um contexto de várias camadas e a qualidade da deliberação é determinada pela interação da infraestrutura sociotécnica, do contexto político, da estrutura legal e dos participantes dos discursos. A análise de plataformas de rede social, como o Facebook, indica que a deliberação poderia ser melhor implementada em (novas) plataformas administradas publicamente. parties, as a study by Jagers and Walgrave on the content of broadcasts on TV in Belgium showed 99 . Moreover, the transformation of communication and mediatisation of politics strengthen the outreach and public influence of populist parties because the new media logic (simple, short language, direct communication) and trends towards negative campaigning match their communication style 100 . Another aspect which could lead to their online success is that uncivil communication and a negative tone are accompanied by a higher degree of participation 101 . Concluding from this research strand, whether political deliberation emerges on social media depends on the political context in particular political ideology and type of political actors involved 102 . Yet, the further development, course and quality of deliberation is further determined by the resource of political discourses: the people who participate. Online Participants Therefore, this part takes a look at online participants as a driving force of the shape and course of political online debates. It is crucial to investigate their social background and behaviour online. However, representative studies on people participating in online discourses are rare. Most studies are based on small samples which makes it difficult to outline consistent demographic characteristics of online users 103 . Characteristics and motivation of online participants However, there are studies that showed, in line with Davis, that online participation is influenced by social capital and regional background 104 . For instance, Elter (2013) presented evidence that citizens in urban areas participated more frequently on Facebook and Twitter in advance to the state elections 2011 in Germany than citizens in urban areas 105 . Vergeer and Hermans point out that online participants are characterized by their Internet affinity, competence, ability and 99 J. Jagers and S. Walgrave, 'Populism as political communication style: An empirical study of political parties' discourse in
doi:10.12957/publicum.2019.47202 fatcat:gmgsdh3iorcujfpvawjmi5tkma