Reframing Electronic Democracy: a Conceptual Demarcation Through Frame Analysis
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The study addresses the conceptual ambiguity surrounding electronic democracy by examining its relationship with a range of closely related concepts, including digital democracy, cyber democracy, virtual democracy, online democracy, and networked democracy. The research aims to establish clear definitional boundaries through the application of frame analysis as a method of semantic modelling. A corpus of academic publications published between 2010 and 2024 was analysed using inductive coding, categorization of interpretative frames, and comparative conceptual analysis. The findings demonstrate that concepts frequently treated as synonymous are grounded in distinct semantic structures reflecting different interpretations of the relationship between technology, democratic institutions, and citizen participation. Electronic democracy is conceptualized as a higher-order multidimensional framework integrating these perspectives without being reducible to any single one of them. The proposed conceptual demarcation enhances analytical precision, reduces the risk of conceptual stretching, and provides a more consistent basis for future theoretical and empirical research on digitally mediated democratic governance.
Source: Economic scope
Authors: Kateryna Larionova, Tetiana Kramarenko
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7204164063