O papel da cidadania informada à luz da Teoria Política: um diálogo para o século XXI

Abstract

Citizen information plays a central role in democratic theories. Furthermore, it can be argued that, essentially, informed citizens form the cornerstone of the democratic process. In this regard, it can be said that the "ideal of well-informed citizens" explicitly emerged in the late 19th century, marking a shift in the expectations placed upon them. In the 20th century, the justification and feasibility of informed citizenship took on new dimensions, highlighting that the study of citizens' political information is rife with contradictions. Among these contradictions is the empirical observation that there is a mismatch between the information levels required by democratic theories and the difficulties or incapacity of citizens to attain these levels. As a result, within the field of Political Science, approaches have been developed to address the variation in information levels among individuals and understand how these discrepancies affect their decision-making. With the advent of the internet and social media, informed citizenship has taken on new dimensions. To analyze this array of transformations, the dissertation is divided into three chapters. The first chapter conducts a literature review mapping the theoretical/conceptual framework of the role of citizens' information from the perspectives of Classical, Modern, and Contemporary Political Theory, examining the ethical-political foundations that underpin the guiding ideals of democratic regimes throughout history. In the second chapter, the emergence and development of techniques for investigating and analyzing citizens' information levels are discussed, with a focus on studies of political behavior. Finally, the third chapter aims to highlight significant changes in the informational landscape, primarily triggered after the 2016 US presidential elections, discussing the new layers that challenge political information and the feasibility of informed citizenship. It is concluded that the incorporation of the new dimensions of information is indispensable for understanding informational asymmetries among individuals. Moreover, it becomes evident that informed citizenship, as a model, is gradually being supplanted by alternative concepts that take into account the role of new technologies in redefining the social and political relationships individuals have with information.