Opinión pública y democracia deliberativa. Una actualización en el contexto digital de la sociedad red

Abstract

We discuss the relationship between public opinion and democracy, taking into account the changes brought by the Internet. Digital technologies of information and communication have increased the number and altered the features of the social actors giving voice to public opinion, the influence on governments and the nature of current collective debates. These transformations of public sphere force a reflection on this notion as Junger Habermas formulated it. Increasing numbers of social actors with autonomous communicative resources and advanced skills, the scope and forms of their activity put into question those institutional monopolies that formerly expressed public opinion. Conventional and institutionalized agendas, formerly established by the media, polls and referenda are being surpassed; as well as national borders. This new scenery for political communication points to social networks as the key concept and networked communications as the pillar of innovative strategies and the democratic quality.