@article{oai:kanazawa-u.repo.nii.ac.jp:00002683,
 author = {楠根, 重和},
 issue = {1},
 journal = {金沢法学},
 month = {Nov},
 note = {In the Internet-age, the mass media no longer has the monopoly power to collect, produce and submit the news or set the news-agenda as it pleases. Ordinary citizens can also become journalists, using the Internet to convey their opinions as examples of Internet newspapers like OhmyNews and JANJAN show. Even blogs, which are nothing more than personal diaries, can become powerful and political actors if portal sites gather them and provide platforms to discuss issues such as the case of Technorati, a portal site. They can mobilize and inform people about which opinions are prevailing and popular now. If the central and local governments are ready to disclose information and to work together with its citizenry, e-government may change the political climate. Citizens need not play a passive role in the process of political decisions. In the conventional type of democracy, electorates are asked only at the time of the voting campaigns and after elections, otherwise, the elected politicians seem to have a totally free hand. Therefore many people have lost interest in participating in politics. This disappointed and disinterested behavior of the electorates, strengthened by the emotional and at the same time cynical manner of news presentations by the mass media, have had a negative influence on the political system. This is the negative side of the indirect democratic system, which has combined with increasing focus on "infotainment" by the mass media. The Internet and e-democracy can enable citizens directly to check public policies and to modify the proposed policies according to the changing situation, thereby enhancing democracy itself. I also see in the Internet-age at the first time in the history of humankind a chance to go beyond the borders and boundaries of nationalism and the nation state. The Internet empowers awakened citizen to act in solidarity with other citizens in other nations, so that it is possible to discuss world politics and problems, which cannot be solved by only one nation. Such possibilities mean more responsibility for each society in the world., 金沢大学法学部},
 pages = {171--198},
 title = {インターネット民主主義による市民社会の実現},
 volume = {48},
 year = {2005}
}