POL369Y5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Here Comes Everybody, Public Sphere, Crowdfunding
Document Summary
Basically how politics work in a representative democracy. Citizens engage in the political process through one of two ways: Action: for example, voting, engaging in various forms of lobbying (inside lobbying or outside lobbying) Traditional organizations (such as, political parties, interest groups, social movements, etc. ) all act as a conduit to politicians and public agencies. Public sphere is where the communication happens. The public sphere is a space for us as citizens to talk, discuss, and debate issues and allow meaningful public opinion to form on certain issues. If mass opinion forms, we can use this opinion to create communicative pressure on politicians and public agencies. Protests can be seen as action or communication! After such in uences from traditional organizations and the public sphere, politicians/public agencies will either make laws and policies or operate public action. The internet lowers communication costs which allows more people to communicate. All of us can be participants in the process.
