DELIBERATION, REPRESENTATION AND CITIZEN PARTICIPATION IN THE VIRTUAL POLITICAL SPACE

In contemporary democracies, the public space takes on increasing importance as a field in which the citizenship, which remains active beyond the electoral moment, expresses itself, participates, discusses, deliberates and builds representative bonds with their rulers. The rise of the Internet and the 2.0 Web has expanded the public space's boundaries, enabling new scopes for politics, beyond its traditional arenas. Some features of this new virtual public space and the conceptual discussions around them, are considered in this article, and presented as theoretical dilemmas that need to be deepened.