-THE IMPORTANCE OF INTERNET IN CIVIL SOCIETY AND DEMOCRACY AS AN EXAMPLE OF THE USA-

-THE IMPORTANCE OF INTERNET IN CIVIL SOCIETY AND DEMOCRACY AS AN EXAMPLE OF THE USA-

-ABSTRACT-

     Information access and using of it are seen as essential tools and rightes in democratic society, which all citizens should be kept all information that they can use it to make a decision in society as personal as political. Democracy and its relationship with civil society has important link with flow of information.
With the invention of the Internet, unpredictable growth in information and communication technologies in recent years, more materials are used and exchanged and shared. Information is now available in a digital formats and it can reach many zones. With the new age of the communication technology the internet is important factor in relationship between democracy and civil society. This paper explores the role of free flow of information with internet in affecting democratic values (as an example) in the United States and its power to mobilize civil society in democratic society such as current Wall Street Protest Action.

-INTRODUCTION-

     This paper demonstrate the role of the Internet as a democratic tool that provide significant benefits for society at large in democracy and politics. We can say that internet’s contribution to democracy has become significant tool. Its potential to mobilize groups and its potential for oppression and control should seen a new tool to affect civil society and democracy and its relationship.The power of Internet that has an effective accessibility of information can not be out of place while understanding of the evolution of democratic society, but it can be thought as an important tool the fundamental concepts of democratic society. Our research discusses the role of Internet in a democracy, and highlights the power of it.
     Firstly, democracy and civil society and its relations will be defined with the examples of some classical literature and writers.
     Secondly, there will be a discussion on what is the importance of internet in democratic society and in this relations.
     Thirdlly, the role of information in a democratic society that will be followed by a discussion on the influence of Internet on democracy, as an example of the United States, especially with Occupy Wall Street Protest.
     Finally, as the conclusion we plan to draw such a picture from the world.
According to many scholars, civil society is as a necessary element in a democracy and an economy. These scholars and others characterize civil society associations as a site for organizing of communication.
The importance of these practices is unquestionable in the case of political participation. The Internet can be thought as a medium that seems to present different dynamics, opportunities, and constraints for interaction. Therefore, we want to explore the relationship between everyday online interactions with different types of groups and the relationship between such practices and political participation, both offline and online. The different issues that are particularly important for democratic practice if the Internet is a medium will be discussed.
Before this important issues we should mention democracy and its relations with civil society and the importance of internet in democratic society.

-WHAT IS ( LIBERAL DEMOCRACY) DEMOCRACY AND CIVIL SOCIETY? –

-TO UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF INTERNET IN THIS RELATIONSHIP-

     ‘What is democracy? What is liberal democracy? And what is civil society?’What is the role of the internet in Wall Street Protest? These are important questions that should be defined to understand rightly the importance of relations among internet-democracy-civil society.
     Firstlly,we should define democracy. Democracy can be defined as a form of government in which all people have an equal rights and say in the decisions that affect their lives. We can say that, it is a political system to choose government with feer and fair election. It is tool for people to be active in participation in political life. It is protector of human right for all people and it is rule of law in which all people are equal.      There are several varities of democracy, but we will not defined, because we should focus on the relations among democracy-civil society and internet.
To understand the relationship between civil society and democracy we must answer ‘What is liberal democracy’?
     Liberal democracy is a type of representative democracy. It is a form of government in which the state is governed by the people, and in which individual freedoms are protected. Liberal democracies have constitutions, which describe the legal framework of the state and the basic rights.
Liberal democracy has focused on property rights, the right to privacy, equality before the law, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion and an economic policy founded on the principle of a free market.
     In this context, there are lots of inequalities among people that live in liberal system. Different kinds of social groups has been affected from this system. Some of them are satisfied, but some of them are unhappy in this system. The Wall Street Protest demonstrates us, unhappy people organized some activites to show their interests to protest conditions. When they become an civil society organization, they used some important tools, especially the internet, very actively to organize, coordinate and affect all people.
In this point, we can talk about the civil societies. Civil society can be defined as a collection of organizations with civic or social bent that works together without government control.
     It is a voluntary or non-profit sector of an economy. It includes of organized groups and institutions, non-governmental organizations, independent mass media, think tanks, universities, and social and religious groups.
Why the civil society is an important for democracy? Does it develop or challange the democracy?
The civil society is an important tool to limit or control the government. It can provide checking system over power of politicians and government. Without political parties, they mobilize the people as voluntary in political life. Civil societies can be seen as tool that provide participation in politics. Especially non-governmental organizations has supported the people to be active in political decision. With their lobby activities, they support the the rule of law.
     Civil society organizations are significant tools to develop democratic values.Larry Diamond is an important person to give an example to emphasize the relationship between civil society and democracy. In presentations of NGO Leaders, in February 10, 2004, Convention Center, in Baghdad, he explained the functions of civil society for democracy.
     As the most important function of civil society that they strengthen the democray. It mobilize people to represent their interest and it encourage the people to organize different types of goals. It includes many different group interests such as women groups, worker association, immigrants rightes…
It can be seen as important to help people to inform about public issues and explain their opinions in social groups.
     We mentioned about all of the important factors. With all of this functions, civil society has develop democracy when it grows in the new age of communication. We can say that internet has contribute this relationship between democracy and civil society. The rise of using internet provide better information about political and public issues. For organizations, social groups, institutions, all people, civil society can be seen as stronger with the using of internet.
     As an example; ‘Truman emphasizes that groups assist in the process of specialization. As society becomes more complex, groups proliferate to meet people's various needs’. There is huge demand for many people needs in Wall Street Protest. In this point, the internet is a tool to gain these needs.
As an another example;
     The opening sentence of the book, he emphasize that ‘In a political system where nearly every adult may vote but where knowledge, wealth, social position, access to officials, and other resources are unequally distributed, who actually governs?’ (Dahl 1961, 1). Robert Dahl asked in his book (Who Governs?)
He mentioned that all inequalities that affect the life of human, every adult vote to govern, but there are lots of differences about knowledge, wealth, social status, access the resource. These inequalities promote different social class to be active in civil societies. We can say that internet should be mentioned in this point. Because, to access the resources, to have knowledge, to have good social status, it provide important channels for all people. We are showing this significant relation with examples of the using of internet and example of Occupy Wall Street Protest.
     To understand the importance of the Wall Street Protest to show the importance of the internet in civil society and democracy, we should look at the United States. How do people use the internet in political participation and in their needs?

-UNDERSTANDING THE IMPORTANCE OF INTERNET IN CIVIL SOCIETY AND DEMOCRACY WITH THE BEST EXAMPLE OF THE UNITED STATES-

     The Wall Street Protest occupy in the in New York in USA. We should analyze internet and its using in this country and what is its role in this affective protest with emphasizing the civil society,democracy and internet.
Internet and its using have occured more rapidly than any other tecnologies in the history. Today it has been becoming as an indispensable for many population and cultures . For example, Americans, more than 80%, say the Internet plays a vital role in their daily routines . By the reason of this kind of changings in people’s lifes, social scientists have begun exploring the political and social implications of using of the Internet.
     Firstly, being an significant sample, the American democracy is suffered from low levels of participation. Poor and poorly educated people have not enough sense to vote, which means their interest are ignored officially. We can define this situation as ills. We can say that with the new age of the civil society with the highest using of the technology, internet is a cure for these ills. The internet can seen as significant tool to help solve this problem. We can say that computer networks will make more political participation in civil society and in a result in democracy. For example, many people will be able to vote from home or make financial contributions with the internet. At the same time, information can be shared, so citizens will have the knowledge they need to participate effectively. Many elites will allow more public participation in their decision making process.
     Secondly, it is most important that internet will give citizens greater control over the decisions that governments have traditionally made. As we mentioned early, civil society can be seen as affective tool to control government and its policies. Internet is supporting this control action in politics. We can say that it is seen as “the great equalizer,” by many people. Because it can affect “the balance of power between citizens and power heads (governmetns or local administers) ” We will demonstrate that in the final with the current examples such as Wall Street Protest.
     It is another important thing that more people can participate in politics and civic life if they have better access to information. From this perspective, the internet is providing free and accessible information. Access to the Internet can facilitate more direct democracy. Citizens can reach many information that should be known from civil society by surfing web pages to get relevant facts. Many information that we need in internet before we can vote or take other political action. We need to know which positions to adopt and which candidates and organizations come the closest to supporting our views. Which one is suitable for our opinions.     In addition, it can extend government decisions that are made by the few in the center of power to the many on the outside who wants to participate.
One example: We can understand the importance of internet from this event: ( ın USA) Of the 40 million people who reported that they registered, but they could not vote in the 1998 election, about many of them reported that they did not vote because they were too busy or had conflicting work. The Internet can provide political and civic participation more convenient and less consuming of time by bringing certain activities right into people’s homes.
     Furthermore, when you try to get information to assess for your political participation as a person this situation changes if you are a one member of a group. You can be member of political organization, an ethnic association, a sports league, its welfare will be affected by government decisions. If it has many members, they may see a clear effect from lobbying, protesting, and voting together. When the members discuss, and they try to persuade one another about political issues and convince one another to participate, we can undestand that groups are more important tool than a person to participate in politics and to promote democracy. It is important that civil society mobilize people and groups and it shows that group members are much better informed about politics, more likely to have been asked to vote, and more likely to discuss issues than nonmembers. We can say that If group membership is the significant key to political participation, the Internet can provide billions of Web pages and full of data to be used by this groups and civil societies. We must mention that the internet is a lever for groups and civil society to participate more and to reach their goals. It is used by civil society organizations to coordinate their behaviours and to get supports from people and to protest policies that implemented by government.
     There is another important issue is deliberation that is an essential element of any democracy. We can say that deliberation can be found on the Internet. By talking on-line, citizens can reach the motivation, knowledge, and the wisdom they need to participate in politics. They can see alternative perspectives, articulate their goals and develop mutual respect that allows them to cooperate even when they disagree.
In the USA, one survey was taken in 2000. According to this survey, 67 percent of Americans considered that internet is important to obtain “general news that gives you general information about important events that are happening,” whereas just 28 percent preferred to see “news that is about your interests and what’s important to you.” These statistics show that citizens may satisfy their desire for general news by glancing at headlines.
     Another thing that young people, men, and poorly educated people were unlikely to care about general news, they have no sense to participate in public delibrations. We can understand that internet provide new world (we can call that as digital world) for people to reach informations, general news, events. Many of them use this world to participate in public delibrations.

     We must mention that internet gives people opportunities to perform the very satisfying kind of “public work” that can be supportive works or protest works. Commons can serve some of the same values as a democracy: especially equality, participation, and freedom. And within a democratic society, a commons can provide resources (such as skills, information, and social networks) for disadvantaged citizens. Internet include all parts of society to act affectivelly towards their interest and it can facilitate organizing, coordinating to get best result. It shows that, collaborative work on the Internet teaches skills and habits that potentially transfer to politics. Today the internet provide and facilitate public works.

-THE WALL STREET PROTEST AS AN EXAMPLE-

     In the begining of our article, we said that internet is a significant tool that mobilize civil society and facilitiate deliberation in politics. People can be organized with internet when they want to support one policy or when they protest one stituation. Today, many people can join a number of civil society organization by one click of mouse. Many organizations use the internet to get support from people and to get stronger position. Internet organization act stronger role in politics.
     When we look at its relation with democracy, as Paul Jorion who is an anthropologist said “The internet is direct democracy”. He notes that there’s no hierarchy and everyone can express themselves with the Internet.
In many countries we can see most protest organization that are strengthened in internet, especially in the United States. In this point we should give an example of current Occupy Wall Street Protest Action. It is stronger protest against social and economic inequality, high unemployment, corruptions in the United States. Actually, doing this protest with using only internet could be wrong, but with it the movement expends to several areas. The Occupy Wall Street protest that started in New York, not just across the US but also around the world. Similar protests have emerged to 100 cities in the US and two dozen cities around the world. For instance, plans are now developing for similar protests at the London Stock Exchange. The Occupy Wall Street protest even has its own internet committee.

     Registered users can easily find out when and where to participate, watch or read related news, and interact with other like-minded people on the Occupy Wall Street website (http://occupywallst.org/).
The movement counts more than 400 Facebook pages with its 2.7 million fans around the world. For example; the “We Are the 99 Percent” blog continues to publish the personal stories of people such as struggling with student debt, and health care costs on ‘Tumblr.com.’. There are also dozens of new wikis and web pages, such as ‘OccupyWallSt.org’ or ‘HowToOccupy.org.. Secondly, there are more than 100 accounts on ‘Twitter’ and the main account is ‘@occupywallstnyc’ that has more than 94,000 followers.

     Is Occupy Wall Street calling for a direct democracy? The message is that people will not be no longer tolerate walls that separates them, and it is same in a voice from the Berlin Wall to Tahrir Square, or from Tienanmen to the Gaza Strip. What is happening with this movement is that the opening the space for a democratic dialogue. An open space for imagination of the masses begins to move freely especially in the middle of seeming chaos and anarchy.
Kevin Gosztola is an independent journalist described how the OccupyWallStreet movement is challenging the rigged ‘two party’ political system. Although the importance of Occupy Wall Street was dismissed in the media, labor unions recognized its potential. In this case, Occupy Wall Street can be an experiment in direct democracy. In the conventional method of protest, people march for one day and put forward their demands. Then they have no choice without waiting for politicians to deliver. For example; before the invasion of Iraq in 2002, the global antiwar protest brought millions to the streets, but they were ignored by the media and shut out by the government. In contrast, Occupy Wall Street is not a one day event. When an interviewer asked what he wants to see at the end of this occupation, the protester answered; “As far as seeing it end, I wouldn’t like to see it end. I would like to see the conversation continue.”
Political actions and rallies such as those at the Occupy Wall Street would have been unsuccessful or impossible without the aid of the organizational and provocative power of social media and the internet. Internet’s power in organizing people is stronger than any of political, social or other forms of organizations. Today, a lot of revolutionary rallies are triggered through facebook, not through political parties. For instance, social media, facebook in particular, has been a large organizing force in the ongoing revolution in Cairo. Therefore social media brings the public closer to the cause and its propagators for making the revolution stronger.
     Can you imagine what would happen to the Occupy Wall Street Movement if Americans lost access to internet right now? Access to open communications platforms is critical for the human species evolution and survival.

-OTHER USES OF THE INTERNET IN A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY-

     It can be argued that, being the most important enabler of information is the biggest contribution of Internet for a democratic society. Some countries have tried to adapt the internet to the political sphere. For example, the parliament has a website, in which were online public debates in 1999, different issues are discussed, facilitated by politicians in Germany.
     The Internet has made it quicker and easier to contact elected representative. For instance, some politicians have their own website, and at the last Federal election in Australia, Kevin Rudd who was the 26th Prime Minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 had his own Facebook page. As being not only a communication, but also as a research tool, the Internet has the potential to revolutionise the way that public can communicate with politicians.
Furthermore, another aspect of the Internet’s contribution to democratic society is giving the opportunities in which people can start their own businesses. As one of the features of a democracy is equality, the Internet makes it more affordable to start a business for people.
     The Internet has made information easy to access, easy to download, copy and manipulate. Artists, and some musicians have used their democratic right to free speech and enjoyed the benefit of an economic democracy to launch their careers on the Internet. This concept can be abused, with many illegal downloading sites or file sharing sites such as Napster or LimeWire. Although not only a democratic aspect that we are looking at specifically, but also an economic freedom to sell&buy and market to a worldwide has been revolutionary with Internet.
There has been some impact on politics;
√ Communications and information available through the Internet can be thought as a way for increased transparency of government administration.
√ The Internet is not only less expensive to campaign, but also it can be used to reach particular demographics that are useful used by political party organizers.
√ The Internet is using by many national parliaments to inform citizens about their activities and legislative procedures.
Also, the Internet can allow online communities to question political candidates or can be used to distribute critical video or an audio. It allows parties to develop their own social-network and provides pro-democracy citizens of authoritarian nations such Iran or China.

-DOES DEMOCRACY CONTRIBUTE TO INTERNET OR THE-

-INTERNET CONTRIBUTES TO DEMOCRACY-

     The internet helps to exchanged public information, by providing access to information, and it contributes to democracy. Although the internet can be a tool in the democratisation of a civil society, it is up to governments to promote democracy through their own policies with the freedom of information.
In more controlled countries such as China, people can access to the internet, however the level of censorship is too high. Although this censorship does not prevent the transmission of ideas or information, it certainly makes it more difficult. On the other hand, democracy face a different challenge; the increase in political apathy in the West. This is explained by the decrease in the membership of political parties, a decrease in voter and there is an increase in the public’s dissatisfaction in Parliament. The only exception to this seems to be single issue causes that seem to be enhanced by the internet through social networking sites such as Facebook. This kind of social networking sites may open people’s eyes and minds to the political issues of a country. For example, there so many ‘groups’ on this kind of sites for boycotting something, or donating to something. Even without these opportunities, these group members can engage in a debate, so can increase their knowledge, and therefore becoming more informed citizens.
The internet is facilitated by a democratic society, and a democratic society seems to be facilitated by the internet. In the societies, individuals can freely use the internet for their own purposes, such as promoting their own cultures and views. However, this feature of the internet can be perceived as a threat by the cencorship that does not allow to individuals to discuss differing viewpoints in countries that do not promote democracy, and so an underground culture can develop in there.

CONCLUSION

To sum up, as a research tool, the Internet can launch careers, conduct business in virtual shops, and it connects people through social networking sites. These factors are some of the contribution of the Internet to democratic society.
With the Occupy Wall Street Movement, the national dialogue was shifted from the deficit to economic problems such as unemployment, the large amount of student and other personal debt and other major issues of social inequality, for example; homelessness.. The awareness of undeserved wealth and lack of fairness in American society was raised by the Occupy movement.
The accesing to Internet was made by the improvements in technology, and now it is faster, and has allowed for more complex information. Because of the Occupy movement, labor unions have been able to become bolder in the tactics and have been using digital social media more effectively.
As politically, some of writers believe that the Occupy Wall Street shows the birth of a social movement. People are attempting to support sustained protest against political order and against their exclusion from decision making proses or events. They want rearrange the distribution of power, and solve the inequality as economic area. Instead, they insist that politics start to talk with citizens and listening them in the case of agreeing and disagreeing with mutual respect.
With our example of USA, if we need to answer how the internet has impacted on democracy, we can say the internet is simply a technology, which is neither good nor bad, because it depends on how it is used. Both of in the countries that are democratic and that have a more controlling form of government, the internet is used as an origin of information. Although it is not used with its full power, the internet has the potential to contribute very positively to the notion of a democratic society. Moreover, according to the Los Angeles Times, Occupy Wall Street is such a Civil society's awakening..





RESOURCES
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Democracy and the Internet: Access, Engagement and Deliberation
(Roman GERODIMOS) Centre for Public Communication Research, University of Bournemouth Bournemouth, BH12 5BB, United Kingdom

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