Democracy Online

Peter Shane is Joseph S. Platt - Porter, Wright, Morris & Arthur Professor of Law at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, where he directs the Center for Law, Policy and Social Science

"Clearly written and well organized... An impressive number of authors who are also real-world policy practitioners. The authors stay largely on track, complete with conclusions that actually reach conclusions. The editor, Peter Shane, provides a brief but useful review of the essays, making his case for what he terms a "cyberrealist" approach to the possibilities of democracy online. Unlike some work in this field that gets bogged down in the details of the technology, this collection analyzes the actual or possible intersections of real political institutions and currently available hardware or software technologies that may affect the beliefs and behaviors of citizens, voters, and officeholders." --Perspectives on Politics

• Part 1: The Potential for Democratic Technologies and New Political Practices 1. Technologies for Democracy 2. Cyberjuries: A Model of Deliberative Democracy? 3. Electronic Media and the Prospects for Transnational Democracy: Cyberspace as a cosmopolitan public sphere Part 2: Electronic Democracy and Democratic Revitalization 4. The Electronic Federalist: The Internet and the eclectic institutionalization of democratic legitimacy 5. Global Governance and Electronic Democracy: e-Politics as a multidimensional experience 6. Interactivity, Equality, and the Prospects for Electronic Democracy 7. Online Deliberation: Possibilities of the Internet for deliberative democracy 8. Hacktivism and the Future of Democratic Discourse 9. Getting Past Electronic Democracy Part 3: The Lessons of Electronic Democracy Practice 10. Digital Deliberation: Engaging the public through online policy dialogues 11. Participation, Deliberative Democracy and The Internet: Lessons from a national forum on commercial vehicle safety 12. Internet-based Political Discourse: A case-study of electronic democracy in the city of Hoogeveen 13. The League of Women Voters DemocracyNet (DNet): An exercise in online civic engagement Part 4: Social, Psychological and Political Contexts for Electronic Democracy 14. A Tale of Two Towns: Assessing the role of political resources in a community electronic network 15. Virtual Distance and America's Changing Sense of Community 16. Access, Skill, and Motivation In Online Political Discussion: The democratic digital divide 17. Virtual Deliberation: Knowledge from online interaction versus ordinary discussion 18. The Challenges of E-Democracy for Political Parties 19. Social Structure and Cyberspace: Towards a theory Part 5: Conclusion 20. The Prospects for Electronic Democracy: A research manifesto