Political communication and civil society: Age of cyber society and postpolitics

• Main Author: Milenković Vesna
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University Dzon Nezbit 2019-01-01
• Series: Megatrend Revija
• Subjects: civil society; post-politics; political communication; media; public
• Online Access: https://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/1820-3159/2019/1820-31591901139M.pdf

Communication and the public, in the operation of all segments of civil society, are the essential prerequisites for the interests of citizens to be protected and represented, because on one hand, the secrecy in decision-making of a small group of people creates an atmosphere of mistrust, and on the other, communication gets the form of rumour and takes place in a private social space at the level of interpersonal communication. Social media, as a part of a new communication online space/time, not only facilitates the flow of information but, at the same time, they are inexhaustible sources of data which provide the opportunity for internet users to participate in political communication. The aim of this paper is both to point out the mutual relationship between political communication and civil society at the time of the development of new technologies, and also the global changes that have affected the crisis of civil society and the emergence of post-civil society and post-politics. With the development of new technologies, political communication, depending on the level that society has achieved in its development, began to occupy the virtual space of social media. It is concluded that in conditions when civil society organizations are weakened and therefore are hardly operating, when the struggle with the authorities is being lost, then the problems in the society are being multiplied, political communication is lagging behind, and consequently the civil society is being transformed into a cyber-society in which communication closeness, communion and solidarity are dominant. In spite of the certain opinions that the end of the civil society is approaching, the affirmation of the online communities in the cyberspace, their achievements both in the field of political communication and participation, tend to entirely replace the activities of civil society.