مقدمه اي بر اينترنت و توسعه سياسي (حوزه عمومي در فضاي سايبرنتيك)

AN INTRODUCTION TO INTERNET AND POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT: PUBLIC SPHERE IN CYBERSPACE

During the last two decades, with the growth and development of network communications and increasing access of nations to the internet and ICTs, the world has been witnessing a dramatic change. Many scholars in political, sociological, and communication fields have been questioning the ability and capability of this phenomenon to strengthen democracy and citizen participation in political life within the framework of Habermasian concept of "public sphere". Each writer has examined relationships between Internet and politics or political power and their interactions from his point of view. A majority of these studies have shown that the "public sphere" as a conceptual framework is useful, but needs to be reformulated and adapted to specific circumstances of a society while considering capabilities and threats of CMC for social life.