E-Parliament: Innovation Of The Representative Democracy

Now the world has entered"the information age". The Information Communication Technology , with its increasingly massive use , not only affects the way people live and interact with one another profoundly, but also brings both opportunity and challenges to national economic and political development. Divided into four parts, this article attempts to discuss Electronic Parliament and its attention-catching impact on Representative Democracy systematically and comprehensively.The first part: the crisis and prospects of Representative Democracy. Representative Democracy has more than 300 years'of history. In its Initial period, some thinkers speak very highly of it, calling it the most ideal government form. But with historic condition's change,"the most ideal government form"has had"the crisis"in reality, which is indicated by the increasing"democratic deficit"and politics being separated seriously.The second part: the practice of Electronic Parliament overseas. The electronic parliament is defined as a new form of representative democracy under a national or local Legislature, based on the use of information communication technology through network technically supported by related software and equipment, aimed at improving the parliamentary efficiency and strengthening its political function, therefor promoting parliament democracy. After World War II, with the birth of computers, the new information communication technology entered the parliamentary domain gradually. The electronic parliament's development can be divided into two stages, namely the"old"information communication technology electronic parliament period and the"new"one. This article examined the second stage, or electronic parliament in the network era. At present, the electronic parliament's development mainly manifests itself in the parliamentary website construction and the application, including that of congressman's individual websites. The electronic parliament's development has three essential features: First, it develops slowly along with the technical progress; Second, it develops unbalanced between areas and the country; Third, it combines the national characteristics and the international standard. This article argues that the electronic parliament's construction and development is a comprehensive project, involving various factors and also requiring coordination in personnel, system management. In reality, technical and financial support, the organization management are most crucial. Finally the article also points out the problems that the electronic parliament faces in its development.The third part: the innovation of Electronic Parliament to representative Democracy. Practically, Electronic Parliament can solve some problems in the Representative Democracy. Theoretically, it is a kind of innovation of Representative Democracy. It will certainly remold the Parliamentary Democracy in many aspects: (1)as one kind of ideal, the trend is"hypothesized parliament". (2) as one kind of approach, the Expansion of Direct Democracy. (3)In practice, enhance and transform the parliamentary representation, legislate and surveillance. What we must point out is that the innovation of the Electronic Parliament to the Representative Democracy is influenced and restricted by such factors as material technology factor, the system factor, the traditional culture factor, the developmental strategy factor, and the experience cognition factor, etc.The fourth part: Conclusion. The Electronic Parliament, still in its childhood, is no more than a basic"duplication"of the present Representative Democracy under the existing system. In the future, will it stop the decline of Representative Democracy? Or will it bring us a brand-new electronic politics, It is still unknown.