The Role of Internet Political Communication in Development of Public Sphere and Electronic Democracy

Interneta politiskas komunikacijas nozime atklatibas un elektroniskas demokratijas attistiba Visvaldis Valtenbergs Atslegvardi: atklatiba, internets, e-demokratija, partijas Ši darba centra ir jautajumi par interneta potencialu kritiskas un informetas sabiedriskas domas atjaunošana un parstavnieciskas demokratijas instituciju pielagošanos musdienu atklatibas, informacijas paterina, komunikacijas un politiskas lidzdalibas paradumiem. Informacijas un komunikaciju tehnologiju (IKT) politiskas komunikacijas ierobežojumu mazinašanai piedavata politisko organizaciju parorientacijas strategija, kura palielina vaji organizetas pilsoniskas sabiedribas un individualizeto interneta lidzdalibas formu redzamibu atklatiba, vienlaikus saglabajot musdienu demokratiskajiem režimiem nepieciešamo integritati. Latvijas politisko partiju interneta komunikacijas analize aprobetas teoretiskas atzinas kalpo ka normativs un metodologisks ietvars dažadu sabiedribas lidzdalibas IKT risinajumu lietojumu izstradei un izvertešanai.The Role of Internet Political Communication in Development of Public Sphere and Electronic Democracy Visvaldis Valtenbergs Keywords: public sphere, internet, e-democracy, parties Central to this thesis are questions about internet’s potential in renewing informed and critical public opinion, and the adaptation of institutions of representative democracy to contemporary notions of public sphere, information consumption, communication and political participation patterns. To overcome limitations of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in political communication, a reorientation strategy for political organizations is introduced. This strategy increases visibility of weakly organized civil society and individualized forms of political participation in public sphere, while maintaining necessary integrity of democratic regimes. Theoretical notions, approbated in the analysis of internet communication of Latvian political parties, constitute normative and methodological framework which can be applied for introducing and evaluating different ICT applications of civil participation