With the increased significance of information technology (IT) in today’s society the term ‘electronic democracy’ (e-democracy) has gained much importance within the democracy theory. Naturally, there are several competing views on how the technology should be used for democratic purpose. One aspect of this is the somewhat revitalized claim for direct democracy in accordance with the hypothetical opportunity to finally realize it as a democratic system. The ideal of direct democracy combined with the almost total credence in the potential of technology constitute the idea of a ‘push-button democracy’. The term has to a large extent been used by critics to the idea. However, it does also figure as a generic term describing this ‘new’ claim for direct democracy. This essay seeks in a qualitative normative and theoretical way, to assess the plausibility of the idea of the push-button democracy in relation to classical democracy theory. In excess of the debate of direct versus representative democracy, the analysis seeks to give a normative approach on how information technology should be applied. The result of the analysis consists of a number of predicted implications with the realization of the push-button democracy, especially concerning the democratic process in regard to decision making. Furthermore, it is reasoned whether this utopian system is desirable, even from a principal view. Finally, the discussion concludes with a stance of policy that information technology should be used as a mean for the existing representative democracy, rather than a goal, in order to create a different political system.

The diploma thesis examines new phenomena of electronic democracy which is becoming more popular with the internet expansion. The thesis summarizes existing research in the field of electronic democracy from a view of forms that could be or are taken. The aim of this summarization is to show that new transformational changes affecting our society do not automatically implicate a shift towards direct democracy. Using theoretical summarization a state of the art of electronic democracy in the Czech Republic is described. Importance is given to an analysis of contemporary evolving tools and initiatives which were developed from two directions - top-down and a bottom up. A part of this analysis is an assessment of important factors that are stimulating a development of electronic participation - freedom of information right, internet penetration and computer literacy.