Das kommunikativ ermächtigte Individuum

Digitalization and its media have significantly expanded the communicative power of the individual in the formation of political opinions and decision-making. This has led to an ongoing »polyphonization of democracy,« a development that continues to advance. This new plurality of voices challenges fundamental assumptions about the preconditions of democracy as enshrined in the German Basic Law. Leo Roß addresses this issue at the intersection of constitutional theory and media transformation research. He examines a phenomenon that, in its fundamental significance, has so far received too little attention in legal scholarship. He explores the capacity of traditional constitutional thought patterns to adapt to a permanently transformed public sphere. Building on this, he discusses how the phenomenon of »polyphonization« can be assessed from the perspectives of political, democratic and constitutional theories.