New mediation and direct representation: reconceptualizing representation in the digital age

This article explores three responses to the emergence of digitally mediated political representation. The first regards disintermediation as a basis for direct democracy, transcending the traditional arrangements and institutions of political representation. The second model institutionalizes digital information and communication technology (ICT) within the rational-bureacratic framework of existing governance. The third model is based upon a reconceptualization of democratic representation, based upon new notions of accountability, plurality and authentic reality. It is argued that virtual deliberation and indirect representation are under severe political strain and that digitally-mediated direct representation could provide a basis for a more dialogical and deliberative democracy in place of the dialogue of the deaf which tends to characterize contemporary political representation.