ABSTRACT
Although the use and popularity of the Internet is advancing with unprecedented speed, we are still only on the very edge of its development. Among the dreams that might be entertained for it, and are actively entertained in some quarters, is that of a world of far greater freedom of expression and democratic control than anything which human history has yet contrived. Whatever the plausibility of this speculation from a technical point of view, the desirability of the dream turns importantly on two questions with which we can make some headway in advance of knowing precisely what the future holds. Is democracy a good thing, and does what we know about the Internet give us good reason to think that this is the way to realize it? So powerful are the democratic presuppositions of the present age that it is difficult to persuade people to take the first of these questions seriously and approach it in a genuine spirit of critical inquiry. For this reason, though it is of the greatest importance for present purposes to address some fundamental questions in the theory of democracy, I shall begin with the second issue – the democratic nature of the Internet.
