n="justify"> electrification of the implementation of democracy since 1980 s (the term refers to remote voting and through that to direct democracy) . The term mediacracy stresses the important role of media as the creator of the world image including the world of politics. This definition of mediacracy does not focus on interpretation of mediacracy as increasing consolidation of media outlets in the hands of a few media conglomerates (phenomenon symptomatic for US social life) because this would go beyond the scope of my analysis.the paper consists of two chapters . In the first section Causes , I will explain the concept of symbolic politics and the role of mass communication media in transforming political space. Consequently, in the section Effects , I will focus on the outcomes of the transformation of symbolic politics and talk about the dangers associated with this transformation to liberal democracy.
Chapter I CAUSES
of symbolic politics
politics is one of the topics most actively discussed in contemporary political science, especially in German academia (M. Edelman, R. Schpelt, W. Schultz, H. Rust). This concept denotes a special kind of political communication, which aims not at rational comprehension, but at foisting stable senses most often with the help of visual effects. Thus, symbolic politics is not just applying symbols, but is a symbol in itself.political action (presidential decree, parliamentary session, interview with a terrorist) has its symbolic expression, which serves as the emotional glue for the various elements of social life. Such symbolic expressivities are not necessarily aimed at deceiving audiences feelings, but they are vitally needed for conducting policies., Symbolic politics is not likely to be a spontaneous type of communication, but a purposeful use of the aesthetic symbolic resources for legitimization and enforcement of power. Every symbolic politics performed by power implies the asymmetry of social communication, when a real communication exchange between higher and lower levels of society is problematic or impossible. Sometimes, power tries to feign state functions (eg welfare services, personal or environmental security etc.) That are demanded by citizens, but power cannot or do not want to perform them.politics actively uses aesthetic capacities of the symbol and is one of the most important forms the aethetization of politics. Aesthetical polit...
