Elektroninės demokratijos prieštaravimai

LTStraipsnio tikslas - išanalizuoti remiantis elektroninės demokratijos idėja formuojamą nuomonę apie naujas demokratijos galimybes informacinėje visuomenėje. Autorius teikia nemaža argumentų apie artėjančius, naujomis technologinėmis sąlygomis susiformavusius demokratijos pavojus. Tai visų pirma visuomenės individualistinių apraiškų sustiprėjimas ir moralinės normos virtimas interneto vartojimo instrukcijomis. Straipsnyje pateikiami optimistinis ir pesimistinis elektroninės demokratijos raidos variantai bei iš jų kylančios naujos visuomeninių, valstybinių ir tarpvalstybinių santykių problemos. [Iš leidinio]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Electroninė demokratija; Institucijos; Internetas; El. democracy; Institutions; Internet.

ENThe opinion on the new perspectives of democracy in the framework of information society, formed on the basis of the idea of electronic democracy, is analyzed in this article. The author provides for a number of arguments, which point to the dangers democracy faces as a result of new technological advances, namely the intensification of individualistic aspects within the society and the transformation of moral norms into the new instructions on how to use the Internet. This article presents two scenarios on the evolution of the electronic democracy and the problems of social, state, and international relations, which take hold as a result of the former: optimistic (the so-called "Agora's") and the pessimistic ("Orvel's") scenarios. Pointing to the fact that the communication technologies provide the contemporary societies with a variety of advantages and new opportunities in politics, economics and culture, the author, at the same time, draws proper attention to a few negative aspects reinforcing a new perspective on the development of the electronic democracy. These are the aspects that bind politics and make it dependent on the computer technologies. Social-level problems: • Communication transparency is overshadowed by the universal control (technically, control at any level is easy to carry out; most common example one could mention - the slow-down of the turnout of the Lietuvos telekomas' servers. Making Lithuanians spend more time on the World Wide Web, this development increased the profits obtained by the company. Introduction of selective programs, etc.; • Internet media turn into the means of manipulation easily; • The emergence of a rift between the info-rich and the info-poor (not everyone has the opportunity and the technical means to obtain the information he/ she needs, full and true).• Abundance of the political demands the Government receives via an email might overshadow principal interests of the state - something that reminds of the information congestion leading to the interruption of any kind of communication; • Primacy of the information search transforms the political action into a quest for the truth inside the database. The role and the essence of the political organizations as intermediaries between the society and the state; • Direct "consulting" in the "real time" removes unnecessary decisions and public opinion, which means the potential scope of the opposition's activities is reduced to the minimum. Devoid of these issues, the society faces, among others, the issue of technical resources and technologies - the "know how" - in politics, first of all having in mind the fact that modern electronic communication is to a very great extent determined by the technical factors: • Information resources; • Technical resources (equipment, wires, etc.); • Program resources; • Competent experts; • Technologies; • Energy resources; All these factors may exert influence over the political decisions, the quality of the authority communication, including the very chance of it. This implies that the Government becomes more and more technically and technologically determined in the framework of the information society. [From the publication]