REVISITING STRUCTURAL AND AGENTIAL APPROACHES TO DEMOCRATISATION IN THE AGE OF INTERNETISATION AND CYBERISATION

Year 2024, Volume: 8 Issue: 4, 411 - 433

Burak Başkan

Abstract

Humanity’s long-standing challenge to exist freely under authoritarian regimes and its pursuit of democratisation are two enduring themes. The resurgence of populist authoritarianism in recent years has elevated the discourse on democratisation to the forefront of political discourse. The transformative advancements in internet technology and the subsequent cyberisation process have redefined the spectrum of possibilities for structures and agencies in the realm of political contention, profoundly altering the dynamics of the structure-agency relationship. In light of these developments, this study aims to reconsider the theories of democratisation. In order to achieve this, the principal theories that seek to elucidate the processes of democratisation in a range of geographical contexts have been presented and subjected to further analysis in the context of the internetisation and cyberisation processes that began to emerge in the 2000s. In this context, the evolving nature of democratisation demands have been initially interrogated, and subsequently, the counter-moves of authoritarian regimes within this equation have been examined. Furthermore, this study adopts a normative stance against populist authoritarianism and espouses the values of democracy. The cyber world, as an alternative to the physical world, provides actors with the capacity to act independently of spatial and temporal constraints, enabling the pursuit of social opposition beyond the confines of the physical public sphere and beyond the reach of authoritarian regime control. Thus, efforts to democratise authoritarian regimes gain ground on the Internet due to the ability to shape public opinion and organise effectively. Authoritarian regimes, on the other hand, seek to stifle democratic movements by employing censorship, algorithmic manipulation, and the exploitation of public discourse through the use of troll armies and bot accounts.

Keywords

Democratisation, Structure, Agency, Internetisation, Cyberisation

İNTERNETİZASYON VE SİBERİZASYON ÇAĞINDA DEMOKRATİKLEŞMEYE YÖNELİK YAPISAL VE FAİL TEMELLİ YAKLAŞIMLARIN YENİDEN DEĞERLENDİRİLMESİ

Abstract

İnsanlığın otoriter rejimlerde özgürce var olma mücadelesinin ve demokratikleşme taleplerinin tarihi çok eskilere uzanmaktadır. Popülist otoriterliğin son yıllardaki yükselişi ise demokratikleşme konusundaki tartışmaları yeniden gündemin üst sıralarına taşımıştır. İnternet teknolojisindeki çığır açıcı gelişmeler ve bunların bir sonucu olarak ortaya çıkan siberizasyon süreci ise yapıların ve aktörlerin siyasi mücadele anlamındaki imkanlar setini yeniden belirlemiş ve yapı-fail ilişkisinin dinamiklerini kökten değiştirmiştir. Söz konusu gelişmeler ışığında bu çalışma, demokratikleşme teorilerini yeniden ele alma amacı taşımaktadır. Bu amaç doğrultusunda çeşitli coğrafyalardaki demokratikleşme süreçlerini açıklamaya girişen başlıca teoriler ortaya konmuş ve söz konusu teoriler 2000’lerle birlikte ortaya çıkan internetizasyon ve siberizasyon süreci ışığında yeniden tartışmaya açılmıştır. Bu çerçevede önce demokratikleşme taleplerinin değişen doğası sorgulanmış, sonrasında ise otoriter rejimlerim bu denklemdeki karşı hamleleri inceleme konusu yapılmıştır. Ayrıca bu çalışma normatif anlamda popülist otoriterliğin karşısında ve demokratik değerlerin yanında pozisyon almaktadır. Fiziksel dünyaya alternatif bir biçimde ortaya çıkan siber dünya, faillere mekândan ve zamandan bağımsız eylemde bulunabilme yeteneği kazandırmış, toplumsal muhalefetin otoriter rejimlerin denetimindeki fiziksel kamusal alanın dışında da yürütülebilmesine olanak tanımıştır. Böylece otoriter rejimlerdeki demokratikleşme mücadeleleri gerek kamuoyu oluşturabilme gerekse örgütlenebilme avantajı sayesinde siber alanda yürütülebilir hale gelmiştir. Diğer taraftan otoriter rejimler ise siber alanda sansürler uygulayarak, algoritmik müdahalelerde bulunarak ve trol orduları ile bot hesaplar vasıtasıyla kamusal tartışmayı manipüle ederek demokratikleşme mücadelelerine karşı hamleler geliştirmektedir.

Keywords

Demokratikleşme, Yapı, Fail, İnternetizasyon, Siberizasyon

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