Reinforcing Democracy through Internet and Social Networks Participation: Votes, Voters and Elected Behavioral Outcomes in Romanian Presidential Elections (2014)
Reinforcing Democracy through Internet and Social Networks Participation: Votes, Voters and Elected Behavioral Outcomes in Romanian Presidential Elections (2014)

Summary/Abstract: The “epidemic” of democracy that “infected” the world and the European countries, corroborated with the evolution of technology and science leaded to a great challenge, which can be summarized into several questions: how can we use the new communication techniques (such as Internet or social networks) for reinforcing and strengthening our contemporary democracy? How could technology engage a large segment of citizens in meaningful deliberation about regulatory policy issues? How real and efficient is such an attempt to modernize democracy? In this paper I will analyze the necessity of institutional stability, as a basic condition for an authentic reform in terms of re-inventing the civic participation in the policy making process, followed by the valorisation of internet and social networks, as an instrument for participatory democracy. At this point, I will analyze, as a case study, the Romanian Presidential elections from 2014, when the social network played a major role for the victorious candidate, with an attempt to discuss the general application over the Romanian and European society of these techniques.

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