المجلة الدولية للاتصال الاجتماعي
Volume 11, Numéro 1, Pages 100-121
2024-03-31
“the Role Of Social Media And Participatory E-democracy Practices In Palestine During Covid- 19 Pandemic In Good Governance”
Authors : Daifallah Niaz .
Abstract
This article is an academic analysis contribution, that aims at focusing on the optimistic roles of social media in society, starting from the understanding of the sociality of social media from the point of view of the social theory, and applying the case of the study “The Participatory E-Democracy Practices in Palestine by the Government, the Citizens, and the Journalists on Social Media during COVID- 19 Pandemic Crisis Management, and the Fundamentals of Good Governance” to the theories of e-democracy and participatory democracy as a socio-political framework, also to examine the online communicational practices and interactions of both the governmental body and the citizens through social media platforms, in addition, to check to which extent they follow and take in consideration the participatory e-democracy and good governance fundamentals in the context of raising the values of the democratic culture in Palestine. On the other hand, the article highlights the pessimism side of social media from the point of view of the critical and digital surveillance media theories, as sub-topics in the contexts of online capitalism and the authoritarian logic of digital communication. Some of the major findings of the article were: (a) the active participation of the citizens on social media to express their opinions and practice their freedom of speech as e-democracy participatory tools; they influenced the decision-making processes many times and the government was responsible for their suggestions, one of the most effective participation was when they were able to co-operated and push to cancel the presidential decision number (12\2020) during COVID-19 state of emergency, which aimed to give financial advantages for the ministers and some other officials from the first level in Palestine. (b) The second major achievement of their e-participation was when they advocated stopping the violations against two of the journalists in the official media agency (WAFA). (c) They could participate and enrich the structure of the daily press conferences of the government, by asking the government to delegate a professional senior doctor to be the second main speaker in the press conferences. (d) Also through their online participation, the citizens encouraged the government to take the decision of the participation of the ministers in the press conferences. That established environment for good governance, and enhanced the roles of the citizens in the public life issues in the society. (e) The Social media platforms usage in Palestine were like the e-parliament hall, where the e-citizens virtually meet and practice the participatory e-democracy, this gave them power, sometimes to criticize the government, and others to support its strategies or to suggest solutions for some problems, it worked as a simulation for the direct democracy.
Keywords
Social Media ; E- Democracy ; Good Governance ; Covid-19 Pandemic ; Participatory Democracy
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