Governance of the unlikely digital democracy in Spain

Abstract

The verification of a general dissatisfaction and citizen disaffection manifested in terms of electoral volatility and abstention supports repeated calls to increase and promote forms of citizen participation in political life. The design of participatory mechanisms is simultaneously claimed in order to increase deliberative channels and to facilitate the casting of votes. Proposals to reconcile digital democracy and higher standards in the quality of democracy have recently multiplied in advanced democracies.  In addition to safer software that ensure the integrity and confidentiality of votes and political opinions, other legal and political reforms concerning new forms of cyber-democratic governance are necessary. This article postulates, with an interdisciplinary political, legal and historiographical methodology, that it is possible to establish guarantees for a greater performance of participatory democracy with respect to constitutional political rights. And that this is not exclusively a legal or political issue, as it poses important ethical and cultural challenges.