Abstract

The relationship between political parties and media ranks among the most debated issues in constitutional politics today. The rise of the Internet, particularly, has brought to light the illusion of a "promised land" for political parties which call into question the well-established concept of representative democracy. These parties foresee the advent of an eletronic democracy where citizens are supposed to directly take part in the political process and thus replace political parties themselves. This article aims at challenging the view that the growing use of new technologies will necesarily result in the disruption of the function of political parties as intermediaries and lead to a very direct e-democracy.