Rating the impact of new technologies on democracy

In this article, the author discusses the impact of information and communication technologies (ICT) on democracies worldwide. The author says that there is not a strong democracy, or a participatory representative system, or teledemocracy anywhere on this planet, with the single exception perhaps of Switzerland where citizen initiatives and referenda are available to the citizenry at all levels of government and used widely. However, even in Switzerland, there has not been much improvement in their system by the new ICT, as their voter turnouts are in a steady decline. He deliberates that modern ICT is absolutely essential for helping democracies transform themselves toward a strong democracy or a more participatory stage of democratic evolution. The use of such technologies, particularly computers, permits much higher levels of democracy at greater distances and includes much greater numbers of citizens than ever before possible. Because of these new ICTs, direct democracy-well-informed citizens deliberating complex issues for long periods of time at vast distances from one another-in big cities, in states, nationally and transnationally can be improved and expanded