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Abstract

This research focuses on the impact of the rise in digital technologies and their influence on creating a democratic deficit. This dissertation will also focus on the changes in citizenship values within a networked age and how the concept has diversified. This transition is due to the popularity of digital platforms in allowing citizens to express, discuss and debate their political views as a modern method of participation. Bennett’s (2008) theory will also be used to explain the transition from the traditional “dutiful citizen” to the “actualising citizen” to explain the advancement of digital political participation. There will also be an outline of what a “new civic” culture looks like today and why youthful citizens favour digital tools due to reasons such as spatial transformation, the impact of cultural pluralism, the rise in political disengagement and the decline in traditional representative associations. 

This dissertation therefore concludes that digital technologies have had an influential impact on creating a democratic deficit, due to the youthful generation feeling disengaged, and misrepresented by traditional methods of political participation. The conclusion will argue that political bodies need to incorporate digital tools into their participation methods to reduce the chances of a democratic deficit. However, this research will also suggest that the introduction of digital tools into politics must be taken with precaution to reduce the chances of a digital divide and ensure the entire population is represented fairly through equal education and access to digital tools.

Course: International Relations and Politics - BA (Hons) - C0694

Date Deposited: 2022-02-17

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis13817.html