Projects
The research is focused on the central issue how the new information and communication technologies transform the political process in Bulgaria. There are three main zones of interest and they include the ways in which internet policies influence citizen participation, political representation and democracy.
These fields build the structure of the analysis and are the basis for organizing the key hypotheses: 1). Online activity ("living" online) in itself develops into real political commitment and activism with difficulty. The opportunities for mobilizing less politicized groups by using Internet remain relatively limited; 2). The danger before these activities is for them to remain above all demonstrative in character. As a whole, the changes in political publicity in the new online medium are frequently only cosmetic. Party presence in Internet often boils down only to using the new channel for the traditional needs of political marketing; 3). Internet is a field where different policies - democratic and antidemocratic - clash. That is why the opportunities of Internet to form active and democratic citizens should not be taken for granted. These opportunities should be cultivated and defended in the conditions of political, social and cultural conflicts reproduced on the Web.
The research will seek to answer some key questions as: what is the efficiency of internet politics; what is the potential of politically oriented electronic initiatives for mobilization and support; can the new media contribute to the overcoming of the weaknesses of traditional politics; what influence does internet have on elections; what are the dominating voices in the internet and how is public opinion formed online. The latest technological developments have encouraged an active debate on the opportunities offered by internet politics. This debate is global in scope, but it also has its own local peculiarities. The dynamics of the changes in the field requires an on-going process of re-theorizing basic concepts and political practices.