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Electronic Networks and Civil Society 81

by mass media. Anyone who has been forced to take a passive con-
sumer position in the era of broadcasting can now make his com-
ment on political events. People can articulate their views and are in
the position to generate a new foundation of political and public
opinion, in contrast with the more centralized orientation of old
media. Because of the cheap access to the new media and the rela-
tively low infrastructural and organizational requirements, even ex-
tremely small groups have the chance to present themselves
independently in a public sphere. Above all, persons and groups who
are affected by wars or other catastrophes, as well as members of
marginalized minorities which had no voice in the public sphere, will
profit from the new medium. By supporting these people and their
preferences, electronic networks mirror the multitude of life condi-
tions in various social milieus of the (world) society (see Geser 1996).
Some examples, like the accident in Chernobyl, the Gulf war or the
civil war in the former Yugoslavia, are indicators of such a form of an
alternative public sphere. Environmental movements such as the
World Wildlife Fund (WWF) or Greenpeace are examples of how so-
cial networks are established apart from traditional differentiation
(milieu or party membership) alliances. At the same time—apart
from traditional polarizations such as class conflict—such social
movements create new counter-positions and new social conflicts.
Electronic networks facilitate the emergence and formation of non-
or trans-territorial solidarities and the process of networking be-
tween different movements and initiatives. They support the inter-
nal communication of social movements and associations and their
related public arenas.
According to this, we may say that the Internet is much more
capable of considering the various demands and diverse interests of
individual citizens than the centralized, organized mass media. The
Internet bridges the gap between the extremely selectivity of the
mass media and the great variety of the private milieus and indi-
vidual lifeworlds (see Ess 1996). It may strengthen, to use another
special term of Habermas (1992), the “signal function” of public
communication.

Conclusions

It is now obvious that electronic networks are mainly relevant in
the field of politics. Enthusiasts see the chance to reform the rep-
resentative constitution of modern democracies fundamentally in