Taking a multidisciplinary approach that they identify as a "cyber-realist research agenda," the contributors to this volume examine the prospects for electronic democracy in terms of its form and practice--while avoiding the pitfall of treating the benefits of electronic democracy as being self-evident. The debates question what electronic democracy needs to accomplish in order to revitalize democracy and what the current state of electronic democracy can teach us about the challenges and opportunities for implementing democratic technology initiatives.

Part 1: The Potential for Democratic Technologies and New Political Practices 1. Technologies for Democracy 2. Cyberjuries: A Model of Deliberative Democracy? 3. Electronic Media and the Prospects for Transnational Democracy: Cyberspace as a cosmopolitan public sphere Part 2: Electronic Democracy and Democratic Revitalization 4. The Electronic Federalist: The Internet and the eclectic institutionalization of democratic legitimacy 5. Global Governance and Electronic Democracy: e-Politics as a multidimensional experience 6. Interactivity, Equality, and the Prospects for Electronic Democracy 7. Online Deliberation: Possibilities of the Internet for deliberative democracy 8. Hacktivism and the Future of Democratic Discourse 9. Getting Past Electronic Democracy Part 3: The Lessons of Electronic Democracy Practice 10. Digital Deliberation: Engaging the public through online policy dialogues 11. Participation, Deliberative Democracy and The Internet: Lessons from a national forum on commercial vehicle safety 12. Internet-based Political Discourse: A case-study of electronic democracy in the city of Hoogeveen 13. The League of Women Voters DemocracyNet (DNet): An exercise in online civic engagement Part 4: Social, Psychological and Political Contexts for Electronic Democracy 14. A Tale of Two Towns: Assessing the role of political resources in a community electronic network 15. Virtual Distance and America's Changing Sense of Community 16. Access, Skill, and Motivation In Online Political Discussion: The democratic digital divide 17. Virtual Deliberation: Knowledge from online interaction versus ordinary discussion 18. The Challenges of E-Democracy for Political Parties 19. Social Structure and Cyberspace: Towards a theory Part 5: Conclusion 20. The Prospects for Electronic Democracy: A research manifesto