Along the Path Towards E-Democracy: The Digital Age and Its ‘Models’

Current Western constitutional systems, for quite a few practical reasons, seem to be a sick body that deserves and needs a soft euthanasia, rather than useless palliative care. On the one hand, the words ‘election’ and ‘democracy’ are currently considered synonymous: yet, when the supporters of the American and French revolutions proposed the technique of representation as a means to implement ‘the will of the people,’ there were no parties, no statutes concerning universal franchise, no mass-media, and no Internet. On the other hand, classical Athens has taught us that democracy is more than voting and something different from representation. This contribution argues that merging the radical ideas flourished in the past with the digital culture embedded in the present shall help wipe out the contemporary crisis under the banner of a new e-δημοκρατία.