The course of democracy in Turkey and the transition to electronik-democracy

The concept of democracy is as old as the beginning of human history. Democracy, which is a form of government that states that sovereignty originates from the people, has been subject to different definitions by different thinkers. Although it has some shortcomings in today's world, it is adopted as the most ideal form of government. In our country; representative democracy, which is described as the best model of democracy, is implemented. This system, which is called the people choosing their representatives through elections, has occasionally caused contradictions and shortcomings. Citizens going to the ballot box from election to election and expressing themselves only through elections in the political process are among the handicaps of democracy. This has led to the research of new models of understanding democracy. Digitalization, which has started in our age and rapidly developing information and communication technologies in this context, have also caused changes in the concepts of political participation. The concept of e-democracy also emerges as one of these new political participation tools. Since e-democracy, also called citizens exercising their rights in an electronic environment, is a new concept, it has brought with it some advantages and disadvantages. This concept, which has a wider application area in developed countries, is a concept that needs to be developed in our country. If we consider how digitalization has made our lives easier in the information society, we can also understand how important e-democracy is. The main theme specified within the scope of the research problem is to focus on our country's efforts to keep up with the developing and changing world order in terms of democracy and the transformation and change of the classical understanding of democracy with the increasing information and communication technologies. Alternative answers to the question of how much democracy can be improved with digital change and transformations have been sought. The aim of the study is to focus on the fact that the concept of democracy can be evaluated from a different perspective according to the changing world order and that there may be new application areas on democracy with digital change and transformations. The increase in internet use along with the advancement in information and communication technologies has also started to affect the ways people use their political or social rights. The study focuses on these changes and transformations and tries to explain how equal and free political participation can be integrated with digitalization. Information was obtained through a literature review; various scientific journals, articles, master's and doctoral theses were used. In addition, it was mentioned how much e-democracy has taken place in our country and its application areas, it was stated that it may have some advantages and disadvantages, and it was concluded that democracy will become more qualified by integrating information and communication technologies with democracy. A survey was conducted to base this study on numerical data. The data obtained from the survey was analyzed with SPSS 25 (Statical Package For Social Sciences). According to the findings of the survey study conducted in the research, the answers given by the participants to democracy and the understanding of democracy on digital platforms were evaluated, and different answers were obtained in distributions such as age, gender, education, and occupational group variables, and the evaluations were made accordingly. The 5-point Likert questions were evaluated according to the answers given by the participants to the questions. Although the answers given to some questions were consistent among the participants, the answers of the participants in the analyses of some questions could be inconsistent. In the analyses conducted, it was confirmed that the course of democracy and the transition to e-democracy differed according to demographic characteristics. As a result of the application, the idea that there is a positive relationship between the differentiation of education level and awareness of adapting information and communication technologies to democracy was not confirmed, and this hypothesis was refuted according to the answers given by the participants. It was revealed that the relationship between internet use and the transition to e-democracy was positive. According to the findings of this study, it was concluded that e-democracy is a concept that has just begun to develop in our country and that it needs to be supported by various policies. Key Concepts: Democracy, Digitalization, E-democracy