Democracy in the Digital Communication Environment: A Typology Proposal of Political Monitoring Processes

Abstract

The digital environment creates new opportunities for citizen political participation. Among these, the monitoring of political and economic power centers stands out. This includes public scrutiny of the management of public funds and the activities of the public and economic systems, thus denouncing dysfunctional features. This article aims to describe, differentiate, and classify the various forms that monitoring can take in current democracies. The results indicate that three major monitoring fields exist: governmental monitoring, shared monitoring, and civic monitoring. This study focuses on the last by specifying its four types: watchdog function, extraction and filtration of secret information, expansion of issues through alternative journalism, and extension of representation beyond parliaments.