The democratic interface: technology, political organization, and diverging patterns of electoral representation
Democracies are experiencing historic disruptions affecting how people engage with core institutions such as the press, civil society organizations, parties, and elections. These processes of citizen interaction with institutions operate as a democratic interface shaping self-government
and the quality of public life. The electoral dimension of the interface is important, as its operation can affect all others. This analysis explores a growing left-right imbalance in the electoral connection between citizens, parties, elections, and government. This imbalance is due, in part,
to divergent left-right preferences for political engagement, organization, and communication. Support on the right for clearer social rules and simpler moral, racial and nationalist agendas are compatible with hierarchical, leader-centered party organizations that compete more effectively
in elections. Parties on the left currently face greater challenges engaging citizens due to the popular meta-ideology of diversity and inclusiveness and demands for direct or deliberative democracy. What we term connective parties are developing technologies to perform core organizational
functions, and some have achieved electoral success. However, when connective parties on the left try to develop shared authority processes, online and offline, they face significant challenges competing with more conventionally organized parties on the right.
Keywords: Connective parties; communication and organization; democracy and technology; hybrid organization; movements and parties
Document Type: Research Article
Affiliations: 1: Center for Communication & Civic Engagement, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA 2: Department of Political Science, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden 3: Political Science Department, John F. Kennedy Institute, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Publication date: 02 November 2018
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