The COVID-19 pandemic enhanced digital transformation. With the spread of the pandemic and the introduction of epidemiological measures, citizens were enforced to use the Internet to an increased ...extent. The digital divide among citizens and the capability of citizens to get an equal level of services has also come to the fore. The paper explores the changes in the use of e-government services and the impact of the pandemic on the citizens' attitudes toward Internet use in Croatia. The analysis is based on the survey data. The results show that due to the pandemic, citizens became more dependent on IT equipment. Citizens spend more time using digital public services than in the pre-pandemic period. The results also reveal differences in the COVID-19 impact on the use of digital public services between different groups of population.
From the Five Star Movement to Podemos, from the Pirate Parties to La France Insoumise, from the movements behind Bernie Sanders to those backing Jeremy Corbyn, the last decade has witnessed the rise ...of a new blueprint for political organisation: the digital party. Paolo Gerbaudo addresses the organisational revolution that is transforming political parties in the time of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Cambridge Analytica. Drawing on interviews with political leaders and organisers, Gerbaudo demonstrates that besides rapidly growing in votes, these formations have also revitalised party democracy, involving hundreds of thousands in discussions carried out on online decision-making platforms. Participatory, yet plebiscitarian, open and democratic, yet dominated by charismatic 'hyperleaders', digital parties display both great potentials and risks for the development of new forms of mass participation in an era of growing inequality. All political parties will have to reckon with the lessons of the digital party.
