Digital Democracy as a Mechanism for Achieving Participatory Democracy -The Case of the Palestinian Territories-

ABSTRACT This paper seeks to demonstrate the concept of digital democracy and its ability to form attitudes and trends in public opinion and it also deals with the opportunities available for digital democracy to activate participatory democracy in the Palestinian territories and it also sheds light on the reality and challenges of digital democracy there. The study uses both the analytical descriptive and the historical approaches. The study concludes that Palestinian citizens lost their confidence in their appointed representatives due to the lack of practical mechanisms that stimulate the processes of participation. Because of that, the media and communication technology tools in Palestine have transformed among the citizens into a space for the exchange of ideas and information, as well as a space for dialogue and debate, and for raising issues of wide popular interest, far from the formal and traditional frameworks.