A invenção da ciberdemocracia: o conceito de democracia na era do ciberespaço

Abstract

This work proposes a discussion on the concept of democracy from classical antiquity until now-a-days. It seeks, primarily, to understand the relationship between democracy and cyberspace. In this context, we seek to answer the following question: What are the changes in the concept of democracy from the emergence of cyberspace? As a result of this questioning ascertain whether the exercise of cyberdemocracy is plausible and if the virtual public debate contributes to democratic participation of citizens. From a qualitative research based on bibliographical studies, the work was divided in three parts: The first, analyzes the concept of democracy of ancient Athens through the point of view of the philosophers Plato and Aristotle. The second analyzes the democracy of modernity. In this space we find the physical difficulty of gathering all citizens. To overcome this impasse arises the concept of representative democracy that is analyzed by Benjamin Constant and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In the third we analyze democracy and influence received cyberculture, as well as the possibilities for the exercise of participatory democracy. Among the materials showed there is emphasis on publications made by Pierre Levy, since his work is devoted to understanding the cognitive and cultural implications of digital technologies. It was noticed, after analysis, that cyberspace is a continuous channel of communication that allows a space for public debate, a kind of Ágora Virtual. It modifies not only the experience of democracy, turning cyberspace into a tool to preserve the wills of the citizens, but also to an understanding of what is today can understand by democracy.