Information technologies, Democracy, and their assumptions

Abstract

This paper addresses the crisis facing democracy today. To this end, it prioritizes a culturalist perspective, which seeks to present the civic foundations necessary for a democratic order. Based on this premise, the text analyzes the impacts of the transformations occurring in information technologies on these civic requirements. It shows how current hegemonic institutions shape the communication environment of contemporary democracies, producing perverse effects and challenges of enormous magnitude, undermining the civic assumptions necessary for democracy. Finally, it draws attention to the need to regulate the principles of social media governance as a requirement for the viability of democracy. Institutional mechanisms for regulating social networks are fundamental to creating the societal conditions for democratic order.