New forms of local democracy: online communication of Slovenian municipalities

Magistrsko delo je raziskava novih oblik lokalne demokracije, ki se razvijajo prek spleta oziroma spletnih orodij. Zanimalo nas je, ali mestne občine v Republiki Sloveniji prepoznavajo splet kot možno pot k razvoju novih oblik lokalne demokracije. Ali splet uporabljajo kot alternativo obstoječim, klasičnim medijem, oziroma s kakšnim namenom uporabljajo spletno komunikacijo? Zanimalo nas je, ali splet prinaša spremembe pri legitimizaciji lokalne oblasti v primeru mestnih občin v Republiki Sloveniji, natančneje smo raziskali, kaj se dogaja z uporabo spletnega komunikacijskega orodja Facebook. Ugotovitve strokovnjakov na področju komuniciranja in lokalne samouprave kažejo v dve smeri. Ena govori, da splet ne prinaša in ne bo prinesel nobenih posebnih sprememb v politični sferi, druga zaznava vrednost v spletni komunikaciji in v njej vidi možnost razvoja novih oblik lokalne demokracije, ki med drugim temeljijo na stališčih deliberativnih političnih sistemov ali politik.The master\u27s thesis is a research of new forms of local democracy that are being developed via the Internet or online tools. We were interested in whether municipalities in the Republic of Slovenia recognize the Internet as a possible path to the development of new forms of local democracy. Do they use the Internet as an alternative to existing, traditional media, or for what purpose do they use online communication? We were interested in whether the web brings changes in the legitimization of local government in the case of municipalities in the Republic of Slovenia, we researched in more detail what is happening with the use of the online communication tool Facebook. The findings of experts in the field of communication and local self-government point in two directions. One says that the Internet does not and will not bring any special changes in the political sphere, the other perceives the value in online communication and sees in it the possibility of developing new forms of local democracy based on the views of deliberative political systems or policies