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E-Democracy and the Emergence of Civic Life in the Cyberspace

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E-Democracy and the Emergence of Civic Life in the Cyberspace Cairo University Economics and Political Science Faculty Social Science Computing Department E-Democracy and the Emergence of Civic Life in the Cyberspace الديمقراطية اﻻلكترونية ونشوء الحياة المدنية فى الفضاء المحكامى Proposed by “Howieda Nabil Mohamed” Supervised by Prof. Dr. Hazem Ahmed Hosni H.E. Dr. Mohamed Abdel Kader Salem Social Science Computing Department The Former Minister of Ministry of Communications and Information Technology The Thesis is introduced to Social Science Computing Department Economics and Political Science Faculty to have master degree August 2012 Acknowledgments This thesis would not have been possible without the help of H.E. Dr. Mohamed Salem and Dr. Hazem Ahmed Hosni. I would like to offer my deepest gratitude to H.E. Dr. Mohamed Salem for providing me with the opportunity to extend and integrate my theoretical study with real data of the latest technology. I would like to acknowledge the immeasurable contributions of Dr. Hazem Ahmed Hosni, for his continuous support and encouragement that he provided. I would like to express sincere thanks to Dr. Ahmed Darwish and Dr. Amal Soliman for their time and efforts they extracted to read and fine tuning the thesis. I would like to offer my warm gratitude to whole my family who deserve special mention for the numerous hours they spent concerning with my kids while I was studying, searching and writing my ideas. I would like to express my thanks and gratitude to all those who helped me throughout my studies and contributed in any manner to this thesis. ii Abstract The aim of the thesis is to explore the issue of the emergence of civic life in the cyberspace in the light of the fact that with the rapid development of ICT our living space has been transformed from physical space into a space shared by physical space and cyberspace. This new space has the potential to create an accessible arena to more people around the world and to allow them to participate both individually and in groups in meaningful and engaging activities. Such activities can include anything from downloading a song to making an online purchase or to participating positively in the political life. The thesis analyzes this issue in the theoretical framework of complexity which is related to cyberspace in many aspects: What will the space of communications look like and how could people benefit from the potential role of cyberspace in making debates and communications? Therefore how can that affect e-democracy and civic engagement (social or political)? The complexity is not illustrated only from the analysis of the expected patterns of interaction in the cyberspace in information age but also from the several definitions of e-democracy and the debate about the role of information technology especially the new technologies web 2.0 and social networks in achieving citizen's engagement. References / Keywords: ICT, internet, e-democracy, social media, Web 2.0 technologies, e-participation, civic engagement, complexity, nonlinearity, Egyptian Revolution 2011, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube. iii Executive summery The aim of the thesis is to explore the issue of the emergence of civic life in the cyberspace in the light of the fact that with the rapid development of ICT our living space has been transformed from physical space into a space shared by physical space and cyberspace. And accordingly this thesis proposes that there are twin relations between physical space and cyberspace. This new space has the potential to create an accessible arena to more people around the world and to allow them to participate both individually and in groups in meaningful and engaging activities. Such activities can include anything from downloading a song to making an online purchase or to participating positively in the political life. Foucault defined the ‘boat’ as the Heterotopia ‘par excellence’, being a place without a place, a floating piece of space that exists by itself yet is the greatest reserve of the footloose imagination, floating from port to port, tack to tack, in search for the most precious treasures. Cyberspace is a location without the realistic elements of a location, it is indeed a floating piece of space that exists by itself, being defined as www (World Wide Web) and having a life of its own; most important of all cyberspace is in its multiple facets and usage the greatest reserve of imagination. The ‘surfer’ of the Internet travels from one location to the other, visiting one page or site after the other in a travelling irregular exploration, connecting, attaching, in search of ‘precious treasures’, for information, for socialization, sharing, learning, feeling, living. Since cyberspace is largely independent of physical laws and real-world constraints, we can be more imaginative in our use of spatial metaphors for online worlds. (Stringer, 2006) Through social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace it has become understood that cyberspace is about socializing and communicating with one another without the constraints of nationality, identity and geographical space limitations of real life. This poses questions about the new identity, new citizenship, new country, new political system and new Sovereignty of the country. iv The thesis analyzes this issue in the theoretical framework of complexity which is related to cyberspace in many aspects: What will the space of communications look like and how could people benefit from the potential role of cyberspace in making debates and communications and therefore how can that affect e-democracy and civic engagement (social or political). The complexity is not illustrated only from the analysis of the expected patterns of interaction in the cyberspace in information age but also from the several definitions of e-democracy and the debate about the role of information technology and citizens engagement although that some opinions start from the same basic concept but reaching different points of view about the crucial question: If Internet or information technology will affect citizens engagement or not? What emergent democracy can be expected from the complex interconnections and relations of the whole global world? And how that will affect the local environment? This thesis is divided into two parts: The first part presents the theoretical framework of complexity as an analytical approach to understand the complexity related to cyberspace and the emergent civic life in the borderless cyberspace from the complex citizens’ interconnections. At the end of the first part is a conclusion reviewing the theory behind e- democracy as well as its types, models, tools, promises, challenges and related terms of e-democracy (e-government - e-governance - e-communities- social networks). At the end of the second part are conclusions reviewing the role of ICT especially the social networks in shaping democracy in modern societies through the new 2.0 web tools and analyzing the Egyptian Revolution of 25 January 2011 as a case study of the impact of highly interconnected systems in the cyberspace can be expected to generate “non-linear” effects— situations. v TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE NO. Title Page .....................................................................................................................................i Acknowledgments..................................................................................................................... ii Abstract .................................................................................................................................... iii Executive summery ................................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ...................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures .......................................................................................................................... viii List of Tables ........................................................................................................................... viii Glossary ..................................................................................................................................... ix List of Abbreviations .................................................................................................................. x Chapter 1: Introduction ..................................................................................... 1 Part 1: Literature Reviews Chapter 2: Theoretical Framework 2.1 Complexity Sciences Overview ................................................................... 7 2.2 Complexity Theory Origins .......................................................................... 9 2.3 Complexity System Features ..................................................................... 11 2.4 Complexity Concepts ................................................................................ 16 Chapter 3: e-democracy in Literature 3.1 Introduction .............................................................................................. 32 3.2 History of Democracy................................................................................ 34 3.3 Cyberspace & Democracy ......................................................................... 38 3.4 Meaning of e-democracy .......................................................................... 42 3.5 e-democracy Related concepts such (e-government, e-governance)
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