India is the largest democracy in the world. Since Independence from Great Britain in 1947, political democracy has taken deep roots thanks to the visionary leaders of the immediate post-independent India. The Indian General Elections involving more than 815 million voters is seen as the greatest democratic exercise in the world. The Indian media have been playing a great role in stabilizing the democratic ethos of the country. In the recent years India too has been a witness to the digital media – 500 million is the number of internet users in 2017. There has been the general assumption that a society drenched in information in a digital age is inherently a democratic one. It was thought that the internet will be an unprecedented democratizing force, a place where all can be heard and everyone can participate equally. This has been the big hope for Indian democracy too. This paper would like to argue that the hope of an emerging digital democracy in India has been belied due to the following factors, among many others: 1) the digital divide is too great to even speak of a digital democracy in India; the internet in fact reflects and amplifies real-world inequalities; 2) a medium with the capacity to empower people has been turned in to a tool of social control; the internet has reinforced the power structures of the real world – not empowered them; 3) capitalism’s colonization of the internet has made the internet an unparalleled apparatus for government and corporate surveillance; a handful of giants – Airtel, Amazon, Google, Facebook, Jio, Reliance, Vodafone, often in collusion with the powers that be, remain the gatekeepers.
Table of Contents
1. Clarifying Terms
1.1 Challenges
1.2 Apparently Emerging
1.3 Digital
1.4 Democracy
1.4.1 Digital Democracy
1.4.1.1 Expectations on Digital Democracy
2. Methodology
3. Theoretical Framework
4. Challenges to Digital Democracy in General
4.1 The Political Context of the Arrival of the Internet
4.2 Digital Inequality
4.3 Gender Divide
4.4 Digital Feudalism
4.5 Internet and the Common Political Voice
4.6 Online Gatekeeping
4.7 Capitalism’s Colonization of the Internet
5. Challenges to Digital Democracy in India
5.1 Democracy in India - Description
5.2 Elections and Election Commission
5.3 Judiciary
5.4 The Executive and Cabinet Collegiality
5.5 Media
5.6 Censorship by Government
5.7 Economic Liberalization
5.8 Internet User Base in India
5.8.1 Digital Divide in India
5.8.2 Actual Situation - Statistically
5.8.3 Gender Divide Regarding Internet Use in India
Research Objective and Core Themes
This paper examines the challenges faced by the concept of digital democracy in India, arguing that the optimistic vision of the internet as a democratizing force has been undermined by structural inequalities, corporate interests, and government surveillance. The work investigates how the digital divide and the prevailing socio-political environment in India hinder the realization of an egalitarian digital public sphere.
- The impact of the digital divide on democratic participation.
- The influence of "Digital Feudalism" and corporate gatekeeping.
- The relationship between digital media and the Indian democratic paradox.
- Political challenges including censorship, surveillance, and majoritarianism.
- The role of gender inequality in online engagement.
Excerpt from the Book
4.4 Digital Feudalism
Having already clarified the term ‘digital’ we would go straight to describe the term ‘feudalism’. Feudalism is “a social and economic arrangement, characterized by a strict hierarchical organization, from lord down to serf, with as many intermediate steps as the penury of the dominant class, or the power of the subordinate class, could interpose … the serf works the land, keeping some of the product for himself, and yielding a portion to his lord, who remains, in law, the sole owner of the land” (Scruton, 2007: 248). According to a good number of social network users we are living in a world of “digital Feudalism” “where sites like Facebook and Tumbler offer up land for content providers to work while platform owners expropriate value with impunity and, if you read the fine print [which most of the time we don’t], stake unprecedented claim over users’ creations” (Taylor, 2014: 18). “By turn, we are the heroic commoners feeding revolutions in the Middle East and, at the same time, ‘modern serfs’ working on Mark Zuckerberg’s and other digital plantations,” Marina Gorbis of the Institute for the Future has written (as cited in Taylor, 2014: 18). “We the armies of digital peasants, scramble for subsistence in digital manor economies, lucky to receive scraps of ad dollars here and there, but mostly getting by, sometimes happily, on social rewards – fund, social connections, online reputations. But when the commons are sold or traded on Wall Street, the vast disparities between us, the peasants, and them the lords, become more obvious and more objectionable” (as cited in Taylor, 2014: 18-19).
Summary of Chapters
1. Clarifying Terms: Defines the core concepts of the study, including challenges, the notion of "apparently emerging," the definition of digital media, and the meaning of democracy in the internet age.
2. Methodology: Outlines the study as a descriptive-explanatory research project that connects key concepts to understand the hurdles for digital democracy in India.
3. Theoretical Framework: Argues that the Elitist Theory of Democracy, specifically the "Italian School of Elitism," provides the most appropriate lens for analyzing power structures in the Indian context.
4. Challenges to Digital Democracy in General: Discusses global concerns regarding the internet, including digital inequality, gender divides, the rise of digital feudalism, and online gatekeeping mechanisms.
5. Challenges to Digital Democracy in India: Analyzes the specific Indian context, including political representation, the role of the judiciary and media, government censorship, and the statistical reality of the digital and gender divides.
Keywords
Democracy, Digital Age, Internet, Gatekeeper, Social Media, Technology, India, Digital Divide, Digital Feudalism, Political Participation, Censorship, Surveillance, Elitist Theory, Inequality, Majoritarianism.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary objective of this work?
The work aims to explain why the optimistic expectations for an emerging "digital democracy" in India have largely been unmet due to structural, economic, and political hurdles.
What are the central themes discussed?
Central themes include the digital divide, corporate colonization of the internet, government censorship, the decline of civil discourse, and the persistence of traditional power structures in the digital age.
What methodology is employed in the study?
The paper uses a descriptive-explanatory approach to identify and analyze the cause-and-effect relationships between various digital and socio-political factors in India.
What is the main argument regarding the internet's democratizing potential?
The author argues that instead of empowering the masses, the internet has often amplified existing power structures, resulting in a system best described as "digital feudalism."
What does the main body of the work cover?
The main body covers a wide range of topics from theoretical frameworks like the Elitist Theory of Democracy to practical concerns like internet access, user statistics in India, and the impact of the judiciary and media.
How are the key terms in the study defined?
Key terms such as digital, democracy, and challenges are clarified to establish a foundation for discussing the intersection of technology and political governance.
How does "Digital Feudalism" impact content creators?
It suggests that platform owners effectively expropriate the value of user contributions while maintaining ownership of the "land" (the platform), leaving users in a precarious position similar to historical serfdom.
What role does the "digital divide" play in the Indian context?
The digital divide in India is presented as a major barrier that mirrors real-world socioeconomic inequalities, where the lack of access to technology effectively excludes large sections of the population from digital political participation.
- Arbeit zitieren
- Francis Thummy (Autor:in), 2022, Challenges to the Apparently Emerging Digital Democracy in India, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1667599
