The Perspectives of Democratic Decisionmaking in the Information Society

In order to structure the debate on the democratic potentials of digital information technology Hubertus Buchstein in 1996 created three ideal types, net optimism, net pessimism and net neutrality. In this study the viability of these positions is put under scrutiny from a current viewpoint. As a result, it should be noted that all positions, however, contain both elements that are still viable today as well as components whose relevance now appears questionable. It should be emphasized that the digital information society, such as the net pessimistic side assumed, in fact has become in many ways a world of bad alternatives, in which it is increasingly difficult to bring legitimate yet conflicting interests to a common denominator. Particular clear this becomes in the increasing tension between the civic right to individual freedom and the state claim on interventions to safeguard social order. If one asks for how the today situation and the prospects for democratic decision making present themselves in the light of Buchstein's pure types, it will be recognizable that comprehensive and profound changes are in the making, but the contours of a future democracy are not yet discernible.