Any democratic society must concern itself with the socialization of its citizens. This begins in childhood, and schools are critical to this process. The interrelations and roles of educating for character (character education, moral education) and educating for citizenship (citizenship education, civic education) are explored, largely in a North American context. It is argued that citizenship...

This article describes Electronic Democracy as an emergent statecraft model.Electronic Democracy is analyzed from a theoretical perspective that proposes edemocracy as the new millennium democratic system. In order to achieve thisgoal, an e-government concept was required. It is proposed that ElectronicGovernment is presented as the appropriate environment to originate a newrole...

This article deals with online censorship and its relation to user autonomy. By presenting censorship practices and activities of groups helping to circumvent censorship this article shows that the regulation of online material is an ongoing process between the regulator and the regulated. The result of this process is the way in which a society defines itself in terms of a free and vibrant dem...

The relationship between the practice of democracy and the use of new information technologies is dependent upon the technologies of communication and information, rules regarding the use of those technologies, and the nature of the entity making rules regarding those technologies. Since today developments In all three of these areas are turbulent, this article looks to social theory that deals...

Over the last two decades, public confidence and trust in Government has declined visibly in several liberal democracies, giving way instead to disillusionment with current political institutions, actors, and practices; rendering obsolete or inappropriate much of traditional democratic politics. Simultaneously, digital technologies have created huge opportunities for public bodies and agencies....

Leader changes induce changes in the pattern of protection and of filings of disputes at the WTO. Additionally, political institutions play an important modifying role. We offer a model that explains changes in trade policy and dispute onset induced by shifts in the sectors represented in government when leaders change. Democratic leaders are more likely to initiate WTO disputes than autocrats....

This article provides a general exploration of the argument that the Internet’s potential for extending strong democratic culture through critical communication is being undermined by a corporate colonization of cyberspace. The article investigates which sites are attracting the attention of participants seeking public content and interaction. The investigation finds that large corporate portal...

This paper outlines the basis and set of tools required to advance anti-corruption reform. Economic and social progress, the rule of law under good governance, democratic values, and strong civil society are discussed as some of the basic prerequisites to building the national integrity system to sustain a fight against corruption in various forms and at various levels. The concomitant values, ...

The problem of scientific fraud has been used to indict the whole system of science. The response of the scientific community has been understandably heated but insufficient. The discussion seems to have reached an impasse as both parties in the dispute share mistaken views. A switch is needed to a framework in which the democratic foundation of the scientific society and the free spirit of sci...

With Massachusetts Institute of Technology's bold “OpenCourseWare” initiative, one of the world's leading universities is making its teaching material accessible on the Internet, free of charge, to any user anywhere in the world. While this seems counter-intuitive in the trend towards commercialization in today's educational markets, I will argue that this strategy could not only prove successf...