| The emergence and development of the Internet technology profoundly affects the practice of modern democratic countries, and the role of the democratic function of the Internet is also increasingly highlighting in the democratic political life of the modern country. Through the overview of the traditional public sphere theory, we believe that the traditional core of the public sphere theory is still applicable in the Internet age, and there has been a public sphere of the network and it has been a platform where the democratic function of the Internet be played. We believe that, the deliberative democracy is a better form of democracy than the direct democracy and the representative democracy, and the emergence of the public sphere of the Internet is roughly be ready for the realization of the deliberative democracy. However, there are some obstacles of the realization of the deliberative democracy in practice, that is the limits of the democratic function of the Internet what we said in this thesis, such as the question of the open, equality and anonymity of the Internet public sphere caused by the technical properties of the Internet, the"group polarization"in the Internet public sphere, the"distortion of the public opinion"in the Internet public sphere. In order to overcome the limits of the democratic function of the Internet, we try to seek an initial system construction which is supported by the Right to know, the freedom of speech and the political participation of Internet.This thesis is composed of four parts.The first part of the thesis is the rise of the Internet public sphere. First, we outline the public sphere theory of Hannah Arendt and Habermas, Then, we analyze the elements of the public sphere based on the public sphere theory of Habermas. We believe that, the"consensus"is not the essential element of the public sphere, and the elements of the public sphere at least are the rational public, the open media space and the free and equal intercourse. Finally, we demonstrate the formation of the public sphere of the Internet. We believe that, although the theory of the public sphere of Habermas has some shortcomings in this Internet age, the core of the theory has not become obsolete. His concept of public sphere has always been concerned about the relation between the mass media system and the democratic political practice; and he stressed that there must be necessary material foundation of the public sphere; and he believed that the function of the public sphere is the mediation of the relation between the sate and civil society; and he stressed the open quality of the public sphere, as well as the critical quality. We believe that, all of these can be roughly realized in the Internet.The second part of the thesis is the democratic function of the Internet. In this part, we mainly present the relation between the public sphere of Internet and the democratic function of Internet, the public sphere of Internet and the formation of democracy, the manifestation of the democratic function of Internet in our country. We believe that, the public sphere is the platform of the democratic function of the Internet: first, people will obtain more rich and comprehensive information in public sphere of the Internet which will stimulate the public's enthusiasm of the political participation, enhance the democratic supervision of the people, promote the development of democracy; second, the public sphere of the Internet has opened up a new channel of the political participation of people which will raise the awareness of democracy and the democracy spirit of freedom and equality of people, and will extend the breadth and depth of the democracy; third, the public sphere of the Internet will create a more free and equal environment for the realization of the democracy. Then, basing on the outline of the theory of the direct democracy and the representative democracy, we believe that, the theory of the deliberative democracy has largely overcome the shortcomings of the direct democracy and the representative democracy and it is an ideal form of democracy, and the ideal of the theory of the deliberative democracy will be realized in the public sphere of the Internet. In the end of this part, we roughly present the manifestation of the democratic function of Internet in our country. The public form a network opinion by political participation such as BBS, Web Blog, News thread and so on, and the public opinion in the Internet will impact the democratic process of our country.The third part of the thesis is the limits of the democratic function of the Internet. We mainly analyze the limits of the democratic function of the Internet. We believe that, although the emergence of the public sphere of the Internet is roughly be ready for the realization of the deliberative democracy, there are some obstacles of the realization of the deliberative democracy in practice: first, the realization of the democratic function of the Internet must be weaken because of the question of the open, equality and anonymity of the Internet public sphere caused by the technical properties of the Internet; second, the"group polarization"in the Internet public sphere will also weaken the democratic function of the Internet; third, the public opinion in the Internet possibly be a the distortion of the public opinion.The forth part of the thesis is the system construction of the democratic function of the Internet. In order to overcome the limits of the democratic function of the Internet, to realize the ideal of the deliberative democracy, to make the democratic function of the Internet be better played, we try to seek an initial system construction which is supported by the right to know, the freedom of expression and the political participation of Internet. We believe that, the right to know of the public is the premise right of the public's participation in the public sphere in the Internet, it must be protected, but in the same time the public's right to know should also have its legal boundary; and the freedom of speech is so important to the realization of the democratic function of the Internet that the government must not violate it , and the government should carry out appropriate control of the Internet; the government should create conditions for the public's political participation in the Internet, such as narrowing the Information gap, improving the government website and so on, and the public's political participation in the Internet also should be guided by the government to make the participation as rational as possible, in addition, the government should interact with the public's political participation in the Internet, such as screening and collecting the public's opinion which is generate in the Internet. |
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