A influência da tecnologia na democracia : avaliando aumento ou modificação da participação popular no voto visando eleições ou decisões

Abstract

Democracy began in Greece, more precisely in its major city-state Athens. It emerged for the Athenians had the opportunity to participate in decisions and local political life. Despite having changed since its inception, democracy is currently used in several world's governments, whether in direct, indirect or semi-direct form. For this political regime can be applied, there are various forms of popular participation at the disposal of civil society. Some of these forms of participation is already being implemented with the help of technology, but for the technological resources to be used in a conscious and judicious way, a better understanding of their uses in participatory modalities is necessary. Since voting, both in elections and decisions, is the most popular and used form of participation in the world, and in several cases and countries already has technological support (e-voting), it is even more essential to understand and analyze the possible influence of technology on participation. The purpose of this research was to study the influence of technology on democracy. After identifying and systematizing existing forms of popular participation, it was intended to investigate the impact of technology on popular participation in voting for elections and decisions. Significant changes were observed through the use of e-voting in both modalities of voting mentioned, like: the increase of technology in voting; decrease of invalid votes, mainly in elections, and support in participation itself. Results also suggest that the highest percent of participation in decisions occur when a combination of voting modalities, that includes both technological support and/or conventional options, are used.