What is Checks and Balances

The relationship between citizens and the state is omnipresent: even the most totalitarian regimes present some interaction between society and ruler. Digital communications have added new instruments through which all, especially the least represented, can make their voices heard. This chapter provides theoretical bases for analyzing how citizens and government interact in the digital age. Dictatorships rely on performance and resort to violence to obtain support. Democratic leaders rely on principle, performance, or elections. Legitimacy by policy efficiency can support despotic governments. Digital communications arise as new channels for governments to promote their views to the people, convincing them of their policies' value; monitor the population's activities in support or against the government; and block information contrary to governmental interests. The people too can use digital interfaces to obtain information, share approval or discontent, and organize protests. Digital communication tools deeply impact the traditional democratic mechanisms to provide regime legitimacy.