Virtual democratic dialogue? Bringing together citizens and politicians

Abstract

How to realize the potential of the Internet for creating virtual public spheres for democratic dialogue has been widely discussed. It has been argued that government should play a more active role in that process. This paper examines a Danish case sponsored by a local government where citizens and politicians were invited to debate via the Internet. It is concluded that the project was quite a success. The overall tone of the debate was respectful and the levels of argumentation, information and deliberation were generally high. Further, the presence of politicians created a debate space consisting of two dimensions and five relations. Two main processes took place within that space: general debates and consultation processes between citizens and politicians. As such, the project achieved a double purpose. Problematically, the project did not succeed in mobilising new groups for political debate. Further, it was a tendency that the politicians tended to dominate the debate leaving less space for debates among citizens.