In a word, true teledemocracy is the use of ICT to give the public leverage in self-governance. Put another way, it is the use of ICT to help transform modern representative democracies into more participatory democracies. New values and ideologies will challenge the scientific paradigm of democracy itself. How then information networks can contribute to transforming societal decision making systems and democracy utilizing deliberative and direct methods in paving the way to citizen steered society will be discussed. Development of democracy Various points of view to the current global social transition period and the coming of the information age, both of which are characterized by an unprecedented global telecommunications and information networks explosion will be discussed.
Representative democracy is in crisis.
Indeed, a growing number of observers agree that this few hundred year old idea and practice of democracy does not work so well any more in societies where an increasing number of people can gain more and more information on various social and political issues by having access to the ICT and vast amount of information. Thus large segments of the population are now and more so, in the future able to form personal educated opinions on common issues. Many people have grown impatient with their governments which they see minding only narrow interests rather than fulfilling the major task of representative democracy, which is taking care of the citizens' common good. They want to become actors in society instead of being mere subordinates. They want to have more power and control to conduct their own life as they want.