This text examines the impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and their consequences for political institutions, and assesses critically the concept of an emergent electronic democracy. The first section discusses the concepts and issues of Electronic Democracy with chapters on democracy and cyberspace, local democracy, global control and interactive ICTs. In the second section, entitled ICTs and the state, the chapters examine the impacts and implications of televising the British House of Commons, the effects of ICTs on political parties, and closed circuit television.

Digital Democracy considers how technological developments might combine with underlying social, economic and political conditions to produce new vehicles for democratic practice.
The growth of new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) such as the Internet, alongside growing concerns about the failure of advanced societies to live up to the democratic idea, has produced much interest in the prospects for a digital democracy.
This book will provide invaluable reading for those studying social policy, politics and sociology as well as for policy analysts, social...