网络时代践行协商民主面临的机遇与挑战

The Opportunities and Challenges in the Process of Practicing Consultative Democracy in the Internet Era

协商民主理论是20世纪晚期形成的一种民主理论。它一经提出,影响巨大,民主理论有走向协商的趋向。网络时代的来临、电子信息技术的使用为践行协商民主提供了前所未有的机遇。通过网络的在线协商,能够极大地拓展协商民主参与的广度,提高参与者的能力和知识水平,使民主协商的过程和结果更趋自由、平等。但与此同时,信息技术介入决策的协商过程,又使其面临政治参与的深度不足、由数字鸿沟带来的排他性问题以及自由平等的参与与责任性的两难困境。

Consultative democracy theory has produced great influence and become one of the most popular democratic theory since it was advanced in the late 20th century. The use of electronic information technology offers great opportunities to practice consultative democracy theory through consultative online at the advent of the Internet age. It can broaden the scope democratic participation, raise the participants＇ competence and knowledge level and make the process and the results of democratic deliberation more freely and more equally. But at the same time, it also confronts the problem of inadequate democratic participation and the problem of participants＇exclusion which is brought about by the digital gap and the dilemma between free and equal participation and accountability.