Idea demokracji liberalnej w warunkach urynkowienia i mediatyzacji polityki – zagrożenia i oczekiwania
The notion of liberal democracy under conditions of marketisation and mediatisation of politics: threats and expectations

Summary/Abstract: Since the 1990s, political life has been marked by the erosion of democratic valuesexpressed in the weakening level of public trust in liberal democracy. The sourcesof this phenomenon stem from the incoherence of its ethical sphere and political decision-making mechanisms unable to free themselves from pathological factors:corruption, nepotism and the blocking of channels of career advancement, etc. Inthe phenomenon in question, one can see the symptoms of progressing ageing ofthe idea of liberal democracy and its weakening in the face of new threats. Insofaras democracy has managed to overcome the ‘old’ threats: nationalism and nationalegoism, it is failing to cope with the new dangers arising from the process of mar‑ketisation of politics and its mediatisation, which devalue its ideals of freedomand diversity. Moreover, under the commercialisation of politics and the pressureof political marketing, it is losing the importance of the ethical protective layer ofsocial life. For this reason, the issue of defending the idea of democracy has becomethe focus of attention of the European Union institutions: the European Parliament,European Commission and European Council. On the initiative of these institutions,a multiple-stage plan to strengthen the idea of democracy has been developed: thefirst stage was the implementation of the regulations concerning digital communica‑tion; the second, the activation of legal control mechanisms triggered to insure legalcontrols on the protection of personal data so that sensitive information is not usedin political marketing and micro-targeting strategies and behavioural advertising;third, developing the ability to verify information sources and intentional advertisingand fake news as part of media education. Separately, the EU’s action stems from theCommunity’s commitment to defend the democratic values set out in Article 11 of theCharter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union as expressed in the formula‘The freedom and pluralism of the media shall be respected’. The implementation ofthis plan means the entry of the EU into a protected area – the sphere of independentmedia, which exposes it to accusations of political hypocrisy, intentional restrictionof freedom of expression and the free choice of information sources. Regardless ofthe nature of the motivation, such interventionist rescue measures lead to a deeperdisharmony between the EU’s imperative to defend fundamental rights (including theright to information), the safeguarding of digital security, and the postulate to protectmedia freedom – the dogma of the idea of democracy. The research objective of thearticle is to analyse the interventionist strategy of the EU in terms of strengtheningthe notion of liberal democracy, taking into account the limitations resulting fromthe process of marketisation of politics and its mediatisation.

• Details
• Contents