THE CONCEPT OF “E­DEMOCRACY” AS A MODERN FORM OF THE RULE OF LAW

ANTONOVIĆ Ratomir (Fakultet za pravo, bezbednost i menadžment „Konstantin Veliki”, Niš, Univerzitet Union „Nikola Tesla”, Beograd), ratomir.antonovic@konstantinveliki.edu.rs

Modern information technologies, computing, and informatics are becoming an integral part of modern life in the European Union. More and more in their daily lives, but also in their speech, citizens of EU member states come across terms like “electronic government”, from which the terms “e-democracy” and “e-government” are derived. With the use of mobile devices and the so-called smartphone devices, they also introduced the concepts of “m-democracy” and “m-government”. In the aforementioned context, it is increasingly possible to talk about the so-called “e-participation of citizens”, which includes citizens in democratic processes within state institutions and then within the institutions of the European Union. E-participation actually represents the process of involving citizens in the discussion on all current social issues. Through e-participation, citizens become active participants in political processes. In contemporary international relations, it is not disputed that the Internet as a communication medium has great potential. Its capacities are expanding daily, so the Internet is increasingly playing a role in preserving the democratic order. The progressive transformation of information technologies will probably increase the current capacities of the Internet, which will give this medium a key role in the creation of a new form of participatory democracy through so-called online participation.

Keywords: E-democracy, political participation, congregation, voting, European Union