Digitising Democracy

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-x

   PDF

2. Digitalisation: The End of Democracy?

   • Volker Boehme-Neßler

   Pages 1-4

3. Boundary-Free. The Core of Digitalisation

   • Volker Boehme-Neßler

   Pages 5-30

4. Fragmentation. Many Worlds, One Democracy?

   • Volker Boehme-Neßler

   Pages 31-59

5. Algo-democracy. Power of Technology, Powerlessness of Democracy?

   • Volker Boehme-Neßler

   Pages 61-95

6. Overloaded. Classical Democracy

   • Volker Boehme-Neßler

   Pages 97-118

7. Complexity Management: Reinventing Democracy

   • Volker Boehme-Neßler

   Pages 119-149

This book argues that in the digital era, a reinvention of democracy is urgently necessary. It discusses the mounting evidence showing that digitalisation is pushing classical parliamentary democracy to its limits, offering examples such as how living in a filter bubble and debating with political bots is profoundly changing democratic communication, making it more emotional, hysterical even, and less rational. It also explores how classical democracy involves long, slow thinking and decision processes, which don’t fit to the ever-increasing speed of the digital world, and examines the technical developments some fear will lead to governance by algorithms.
In the digitalised world, democracy no longer functions as it has in the past. This does not mean waving goodbye to democracy –  instead we need to reinvent it. How this could work is the central theme of this book.

• Democracy
• Digitization
• Social media
• Big data
• Digitalization

• Department of Computer Science, Economics and Law, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany

  Volker Boehme-Neßler

Prof. Dr. Dr. Volker Boehme-Neßler is Chair for Public Law, Legal Theory, European Law, Information and Telecommunication Law at Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg.

Policies and ethics