The digital constitutional state: Democracy and law in the information society

Abstract

What are the consequences of the ongoing process of informatisation for the democratic constitutional state? To answer this question a topical perspective of the constitutional state is provided. In this perspective, the constitutional state is portrayed as a 'house', an edifice to which new storeys and rooms have been added and furnished over the course of centuries. Each storey of this edifice originated as a result of the major societal transitions that occurred during previous centuries. The majority of western societies are currently once again in the throes of yet another such transition, namely from an industrial to an information society. The possible consequences of this newest transition for the constitutional state, are reviewed on the basis of four important features of the information society (deterritorialisation, turbulence, horizontalisation and dematerialisation). Renovation, the simple adaptation of the house to the needs of the information society will suffice in a number of cases. Innovation is called for in some respects: deterritorialisation of democracy, horizontalisation of the constitutional state and the development of transparency as a new supporting topos.