Constitutional and legal forms of political activity of citizens implemented with the help of information and communication technology: concepts, tasks and functions

Abstract

The world community’s shift from an industrial society to an information one has significantly affected all types of citizens’ political activity. More and more such forms are carried out by information and communication technologies and get constitutional and legislative foundations due to their importance for developing e-democracy and ensuring the political rights and freedoms of citizens. It is an important part of constitutional mechanisms for implementation of political rights as a part of e-democracy. The aforementioned issues are relevant not only from a theoretical point of view, but also in the praxeological aspect. To come to a common understanding of how information and communication technologies can positively support democratic processes such as improving government through engaging citizens in decision-making, this essay concerns the topic of concept and functions of constitutional and legal forms of political activity of citizens, which are implemented with ICT.
 Firstly, the constitutional and legal forms of political activity of citizens implemented through ICT are an appropriate element of the functioning of e-democracy and are an expression of advisory democracy. In essence, such forms are an external expression of democracy, but given the peculiarities that they are associated with the collection, processing, storage, distribution, display and use of certain data through certain software. Such information is created in the process of communication between public authorities or local governments with citizens, and therefore the effective functioning of various ICT, which serve as a platform for political activity of citizens requires compliance with criteria such as inclusiveness, transparency, discussion through effective channels, guaranteeing citizens public affairs and cost-effectiveness of state or local budgets. Secondly, the main functions performed by the various instruments of e-democracy in the exercise of citizens' political rights are monitoring, setting the agenda and facilitating decision-making. Proper performance of these functions is possible under the conditions of preventing the use of "hate speech", providing feedback on the opinions offered by citizens and understanding and anticipation of risks as the results obtained.