Digital Democracy in Uzbekistan as a Component of the Digital State

Abstract

The article examines digital democracy as one of the components of the digital state. Digital democracy is defined as the evolutionary transformation of traditional democracy brought about by the digitalization of the political and legal space—a new form of political participation through which citizens can express their political will using information and communication technologies (ICT) [1]. It has been established that the development of digital democracy in the country is uneven, which is due to the problem of digital inequality [2]. Other problems in implementing digital democracy that require solutions include: the absence of procedures that guarantee equal opportunities for citizens to submit appeals on socio-political issues in different forms (oral, written, and electronic); the issue of identification and authentication of subjects interacting in the digital environment; the lack of effective tools to popularize e-democracy mechanisms among the population; and information security challenges [3].It is shown that digital democracy, compared to traditional democracy, is more functional, ensuring mass participation of citizens in public authority activities [4]. The adoption of a concept for the development of digital democracy will have a positive impact on the formation and implementation of state policy in this area [5]. It is noted that, in the future, the development of digital democracy will be aimed at displacing non-digital forms of citizen participation in the country’s political life [6]. At the same time, digital democracy should not completely replace classical democracy. Citizens must retain the right to opt out of “digital” relations and retain the ability to express their political will through traditional means [7].