Garineh Keshishyan Sirki: Religion.
Identity and Politics in the Age of Communication A ALFUAD JOURNAL, 9 .
, 2025, .
(E-ISSN 2714-7606 P-ISSN 2614-4786 ) Available online at https://ejournal.
id/ojs/index.
php/alfuad/index Religion.
Identity and Politics in the Age of Communication and Information Technologies with Emphasis on Iran Garineh Keshishyan Sirki * Department of Political Science.
South Tehran Branch.
Islamic Azad University.
Iran E-mail: g.
keshishyan@iau.
Refika Mastanora Universitas Islam Negeri Mahmud Yunus Batusangkar.
Indonesia E-mail:
refikamastanora@uinmybatusangkar.
*) Corresponding Author Abstract: This article examines the concepts of religion, identity, and politics, as well as the concept of digital democracy and its impact on political participation in the information technology age.
With the rapid growth of digital technologies and the expansion of online platforms, traditional forms of political participation have undergone fundamental changes that raise fundamental questions about the opportunities and threats to the progress of modern democracy.
Opportunities such as increased access, facilitating communication between citizens and the government, greater transparency, and the participation of marginalized groups are The role of technologies such as electronic voting, social media, blockchain, and artificial intelligence in improving democratic processes was considered.
However, along with these opportunities, challenges such as the digital divide, the spread of misinformation, security risks, and privacy violations were also analyzed.
Successful and unsuccessful case studies of the implementation of digital democracy in different countries, such as electronic voting and constitution writing through online participation, shed light on the practical dimensions of this phenomenon.
Finally, the article emphasizes the need for smart policymaking, the development of media literacy, the protection of personal data, and the design of inclusive digital platforms to ensure that religion, culture, and identity are not compromised in the digital age.
Continuous innovation, institutional adaptability, and collaboration between government, civil society, and technology companies are among the requirements for a successful transition to an inclusive, transparent, and sustainable digital democracy, although there is still a long way to go.
Keywords: Religion.
Identity.
Culture.
Politics.
Communication and Information Technologies INTRODUCTION The public sphere, especially as individual and collective identities, and in this way, develop their ability to influence defined by Habermas .
, is a realm of social life in which citizens exchange The operationalization of ICT information and opinions on all issues of capabilities, especially the Internet, or in concern and, by using rational and critical other words, practical programs for digital reasoning, contribute to the formation of democracy, covers a very wide range, public opinion and the development of 175 | A l f u a d V o l u m e 9 N u m b e r 2 .
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Identity and Politics in the Age of Communication A services of government agencies in the The expansion of cyberspace has Internet environment, online voting and made the sources of knowledge and factors influencing national identity in different relationship between legislative assemblies societies more diverse and extensive than and the public and civil society through in the past, and the individuals of these strengthening two-way communications, strengthening the relationship between understanding of who they are.
this has led to changes in the field of national identity e-mail of societies.
Recent research in the field of cyberspace has paid special attention to the facilitating and encouraging two-way and role of this space and its capabilities in the active communication between and within process of identifying individuals and the public and civil society with politicians social groups, and states that cyberspace, and government agencies, educating and despite the opportunities and positive effects it creates in the field of identity, citizens, and achieving a higher level of also creates challenges that can weaken the transparency and accountability.
national identity of societies.
In general.
Facilitating government-society interaction, in turn, leads to a strong, open, cyberspace and its fundamental effects and accountable government and informed have led to the formation, strengthening, and empowered citizens, while facilitating and prominence of identity patterns other intra-government interaction reduces the number of steps required to complete tasks and reduces costs .
urrent, personnel, etc.
identities, and as a thereby increasing the efficiency of the result, it has created uncertainty in administrative system.
It is important to determining and choosing preferences and note that the term Auproviding information identity levels, as well as identity gaps and complexities and can include different conflicts, and has weakened national levels, which is a reflection of the great identity in many societies.
Of course, in addition to this issue, it is possible to Internet.
mention the formation of identities of servicesAy ICTs, (Montazer Ghaem, 2002: .
resistance to the effects of globalization and cyberspace in a number of societies, 176 | A l f u a d V o l u m e 9 N u m b e r 2 .
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Identity and Politics in the Age of Communication A which is not within the scope of this The main point here is that Iran's commitment and loyalty to the national national identity is also facing fundamental community and its constituent elements.
challenges arising from the globalization process and cyberspace and has been countries, we are faced with two general exposed to their widespread effects.
categories: national identities that were recent years, as a result of Iranians' created in the modern era and were confrontation with the aforementioned influenced by the emergence of national phenomena, many of them have been states and nationalist ideas in Europe in the exposed to fundamental questions about eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Like who they are and their national identity.
most current countries in the world, and Today, societies is facing fundamental challenges centuries before the emergence of national that, from the perspective of this research, states in Europe and have been able to have arisen as a result of the expansion of maintain their stability, dynamism and the globalization process.
Globalization is existence throughout history.
Such as Iran, a phenomenon that emerged from the mid- China.
Egypt and Greece.
Another point regarding national identity is that this This identity is not a fixed and unchangeable phenomenon has been able to affect phenomenon or thing and is always subject national identity in different societies to change and evolution due to various cyberspace is one of the most important.
(Rafi and Abbaszadeh, 2019: .
Globalization is a process that has (Poole 2000.
Woodward.
In economically, politically, culturally and defining national identity, a distinction as a result of its formation and must be made between the national identity expansion, different regions, countries and of the country and the national identity of individuals have become more dependent the members of society.
The national on each other, and any change and identity of the country is a set of material, development in one corner of the world biological, cultural and ideological signs and effects that distinguish nations and The present article considers societies from each other.
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Identity and Politics in the Age of Communication A areas, including national identity.
This phenomenon has economic, political and cultural dimensions, and the focus of the article is on its cultural dimension.
geographic ways with specific tools and The Since it arises from invisible globalization can be considered to include information, it takes different forms (Mir processes and factors that have modified Mohammadi.
The any cultural limitations and closures of social life.
(Idrisi, 2002:.
and has led to networks are the main manifestations of Cyberspace Cyberspace Internet, communications and the globalization of features such as: being digital, high the horizon of the human mind and vision.
capacity for storing information and (Golmohammadi, 2002:10.
Mir Mohammadi, 2002:.
The important interactive, being imperceptible to physical point is that the presence of values and distances, being global in space, being foundations of Western culture in the anonymous and unknown to users, not globalization process is more serious than being limited to the civil laws of national other cultures, and this is what is referred governments, etc.
to as the expansion of the central Being broad and comprehensive, characteristics of modernity on a global being stable and dynamic, the need for (Shahram Nia, 2002:151-.
governments to perform better, increasing other words, the challenges arising from the efficiency of international institutions and organizations, the emergence of digital globalization space can be considered an currencies and challenging national and transnational currencies, being intertwined with governmental and non-governmental (Giddens, 1999.
Giddens 1998a.
Waters, administrative systems, etc.
are among the most important factors that make it Cyberspace is a title for a new world necessary to recognize the effects of emerging in the era of the emergence and governance in the digital age.
In addition, expansion of new communication media, the status and importance of the present which has been prevalent in the world for topic are such that some even use the title no more than two or three decades of digital governance, which can cause (Hashemi Zadeh and Ansari Nasab, 2012:
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Identity and Politics in the Age of Communication A challenges for the national sovereignty of Governance Recommendations for Active Activism," METHOD Among the works related to the discussion of cyber governance, of course, with an emphasis on the Iranian political system, is the book "Iran's Strategy Pillars Digital Governance Cyber Governance" published by the Strategic Studies Center's Strategy Book Publishing House in 2020, which is the result of the efforts of Behzad Ahmadi and Sima Rafsanjani-Nejad.
This book is compiled in six parts.
This book is an extract from six meetings focusing on the topic of "Cyber Governance and the Strategy of the Islamic Republic of Iran" that took place at the Presidential Strategic Studies Center.
the first part, titled "Cyber Governance and the Strategy of the Islamic Republic of Iran", the most important events of the next decade in Iran in the field of technologies, the challenges in the field of solutions for creating optimal structures related to cyber governance are discussed.
In the second part, with an emphasis on the impact of non-state and transnational actors, an attempt has been made to present the Iranian government's active activism This section, titled "Global Cyberspace:
governance model and concept of the modern state, and that the strong presence of non-state actors must be taken seriously and a very active policy must be adopted in The third section is dedicated to the level of governance of governments in AuCyberspace as an Area of Governance:
Tools and Requirements,Ay the question of how and to what extent should government governance and intervention be? The notion that governments do not or should not have a role in the governance of cyberspace is rejected, and it is claimed that cyber governance is currently an accepted fact in the world.
In the fourth section, titled AuGovernance of Technology and Cyberspace,Ay topics such as explaining cyberspace, introducing and examining governance, and presenting requirements Iran interaction with technological development defending the national sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the digital and Internet arenas is examined under the title 179 | A l f u a d V o l u m e 9 N u m b e r 2 .
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Identity and Politics in the Age of Communication A AuRequirements of IranAos Strategy in Cyber tasks and functions of the government and Governance,Ay and it is emphasized that seeks to answer the question of how much today, the debate is no longer about whether cyber independence is good or government has changed the main tools of bad, but rather the main issue is the extent In this book, the technical and extent of this independence and the issues of e-government and information mechanism for monitoring it.
In the sixth technology are not discussed, but rather the section, "E-government requirements and policy-making perspective on the issue of requirements in Iran" are considered, and information technology and its impact on the stages of e-government development government tools is considered.
are divided into "presence", "interaction".
The authors of this work believe that "transaction", "participation" and "active this book has a scientific and clinical The authors believe that the perspective .
ooking at solving problems presence and interaction stage has occurred and issue.
and is not politically biased.
in Iran, but from the transaction stage Digital technologies in the present era have onwards, we face problems and need to fundamentally transformed and changed all change the administrative paradigm and human relationships and do not pay attention to the principles of law and The main approach used in this book to analyze the digital age is to RESULT AND DISCUSSION use the main components of control theory Politics and the Digital Age Governments will be able to succeed in the era of digital governance when they knowledge of its tools.
In this regard, the book "Tools of Government in the Digital Age" by Christopher Hood and Helen MargaretAos, published and marketed by Palgrave in 2007, can be used.
The book can be considered more by government officials and macro-planners, because it covers all government activities and provides a comprehensive overview of the in cybernetics.
By reading this book, we can understand more precisely how the tools of government in the digital age have differed from the previous era.
The government as a toolbox, typology of government, tools close to the node, tools based on authority, tools based on treasury, organization as a tool, comparison of government tools, tools of government in the information age are among the most important topics in this book.
180 | A l f u a d V o l u m e 9 N u m b e r 2 .
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Identity and Politics in the Age of Communication A Understanding the tools can be of consumption pattern.
The author places great help in creating good governance.
special emphasis on good governance and The fact that the government is a tool for basically considers its realization possible creating welfare is emphasized by many using new methods.
The world today is facing challenges discussions have been held about it.
With that arise from the transformation resulting the acceptance of digital governance, one from the advancement of science and of the most important discussions that has industry and the emergence of new taken place is how it can be approached to organizational and social needs.
One of the good and ideal governance by using the most important of these is the challenges capacities of the digital age and creating e- facing the issue of religion and how to Considering the importance communicate with society.
This issue, of the subject, the book AuE-Government especially in developing countries, has and Good Organizational GovernanceAy by gained a special place in the establishment Behzad Parsa Jelodarloo, published by and institutionalization of civil society Giva Publishing in 2016, has tried to from the Independent Commission on Good Governance.
Good governance in The main question of the book orientation, effectiveness of roles and achieving desirable governance based on "Government services are transparency, e-government.
In fact, the main goal of the capacity building, and accountability, and book is to examine the relationship it will not be possible to move towards between digital government and increasing meeting these indicators with conventional employee productivity.
The main emphasis organizational structures and methods.
Iranian Therefore, it is inevitable to resort to using administrative system and he believes that new methods.
" Digital governance has given that e-government is expanding in been an event that has led to the creation of good governance, and the creation of this political, etc.
fields, this approach, by type of governance has been achieved eliminating or reducing many of the necessities that are inevitable in a non- understanding new technologies and their digital government, can also take a positive effects on improving performance and step towards realizing the reform of the services is one of the important and organizational employees will improve by Therefore, 181 | A l f u a d V o l u m e 9 N u m b e r 2 .
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Identity and Politics in the Age of Communication A This book was published by a "Digital Governance: Leading group of authors and edited by Ali Asghar and Advancing in a Changing World of Pourezat in 2014 by Scientific and Cultural Technologies" is one of the books that Publications addresses this issue.
This book was edited perspective, considers Iran to be the by Jeremy Swinfen Green and Stephen founder of electronic government.
The Daniels and published by Routledge authors of this work believe that Iran, as Publishing.
the founder of the first empire and This book attempts to examine the communication system, was a pioneer in technologies and provide managers of developing communication networks in companies and organizations with better ancient times.
and now, in line with that and more fundamental methods of using ancient tradition, it is seeking to redevelop digital technologies.
The concept of digital governance, digital governance strategy, managing rapid changes in the digital administration of the country in order to world, human resources in the digital age, introduce a powerful, fast, accurate and service-oriented administration to its future privacy, emerging digital technologies, etc.
therefore, it is striving to formed the main headings of this book.
Studying the aforementioned books and understanding digital governance, the tools technology in order to put the knowledge for creating this type of governance, of organization and administration in the examining the role of new technologies as service of achieving a bright future.
The first and second chapters of the understanding, studying, researching, etc.
for exemplary research.
discussions related to the nature of e- Also, "Iranian government and how to establish it, in the Electronic State form of the basics and introductions Governance" is one of the books that has The third to sixth chapters are been discussed in an exemplary manner.
dedicated to the dimensions and features of This book is one of the volumes of the software and hardware desirable for the book "Iranian Management" that deals development of e-government and the with the subject of electronic state strategic infrastructure for the development Management, 182 | A l f u a d V o l u m e 9 N u m b e r 2 .
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Identity and Politics in the Age of Communication A of virtual parks, e-government metaphors.
One of the vital areas of human life is the and the analysis of important literature.
area of power, conflicts, and political The following chapters also deal with organization, which was organized in the electronic human resource management, modern era based on the mechanical logic the future of the e-government concept, the of the national government.
a national history of e-government in Iran, and so on.
government that was formed based on the The author considers e-government to be a balance of bureaucracy and democracy.
product of human civilization, a social Domestic and foreign policy in the modern reality that develops dynamically and era was formed based on national interests and interests based on the mechanical logic From perspective, he considers e-government to be the product of all the criticisms and developments that have occurred in the field of bureaucracy.
Developments that transformed simple organizations into bureaucracies and them into numerous and diverse types of machine-like, professional (Abdel-Hossein Zadeh, 2010:
Information technology has led to the formation of revolutions in all areas of Especially implementation of smart and networked software on mobile phones, the fourth industrial revolution was formed.
In the 21st century, actions such as buying, voting, participating in surveys, investing, messages via Twitter, filming, etc.
possible with mobile phones.
The new generation of information technology, which is equipped with 5G, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things, has set a very different future for humanity.
of balance and check.
(Eslami, 2023: .
Digital Democracy comprehensively examine the concept of digital democracy and its impact on political participation in the information technology era.
With the rapid growth of digital technologies and the expansion of online platforms, traditional forms of political participation have undergone opportunities and threats facing modern Opportunities communication between citizens and the Greater transparency and participation of marginalized groups are examined, and electronic voting, social intelligence are considered in improving democratic processes.
Along with these opportunities, challenges such as the 183 | A l f u a d V o l u m e 9 N u m b e r 2 .
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Identity and Politics in the Age of Communication A The cyberspace, increase the scope of citizens' Security risks and privacy violations are also examined.
Successful and unsuccessful case examples of the .
The networked nature of implementation of digital democracy in relationships, facilitating the exchange of different countries.
Such as electronic information, and the continuous flow of voting and writing the constitution through online participation clarify the practical knowledge and social awareness.
Wide dimensions of this phenomenon.
(Khaleghi access to various sources and the high pour, 2024: .
With cyberspace lead to an increase in citizens' information society and the contribution of decision-making emerging technologies in advancing the distribution of power, the increase in the goals of societies and meeting individual and social needs in various fields, the model of democracy was not exempt from cyberspace lead to the reduction of class the developments of this era and took on a gaps, the formation of equality, the new nature.
This democracy is called strengthening of freedom of expression, "digital democracy".
and the strengthening of the spirit of social The A wide range of new ideas believe .
Digital platforms are among that the capacities of information and the most powerful virtual ecosystems that communication technology in the modern mankind has ever created.
Platforms era strengthen democracy.
(Mehdizadeh provide the benefits of digitalization to the and Shifteh, 2.
The author's arguments masses on a global scale.
Therefore, the masses are involved in various political, considering the criteria of participatory social, and economic issues and topics in decision-making "digital different fields and gain the ability to intervene publicly.
awareness, the power of free choice, and freedom of expression in platform societies confrontation with the opinions of scholars and digital platforms, are: .
The nature of in the field of "digital democracy", their the interaction and the convergence of arguments are indisputable.
However, the relationships, as well as the capacity for analysis and study of virtual ecosystems and their impact on different dimensions of 184 | A l f u a d V o l u m e 9 N u m b e r 2 .
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Identity and Politics in the Age of Communication A the social field provide different results designing various algorithms, including from the reality of digital democracy.
Criticism of the phenomenon of digital As the world entered the 21st century and the emergence of online platforms in information societies began, a new concept of peopleAos ability to communicate with relationships beyond the dimensions of space and time was developed, and a wide range of methods were invented to realize this idea.
Although it seemed that the emergence of digital platforms in this era would strengthen public participation and, consequently, democracy, it also created obstacles to the realization of democracy, and this was a prelude to the emergence of a major threat to democracy.
algorithms (Walt, 2.
, etc.
, the platform owner tries to direct Aufunctional servicesAy and AucontentAy from the supplier to the demander in the best possible conditions.
On the other hand, the platform owner, through his ability to design the platform ecosystem, is able to intervene in the process of content exchange and its Just as algorithms can facilitate the transfer and circulation of content and information, they can also be used beyond predetermined goals through the will of the User Behavior Recognition Algorithm Explaining how online platforms and One of the interventions of platforms platforms are a threat to democracy that leads to damage to democracy and requires understanding the pillars and deviates from its free nature is the use of characteristics of platforms.
To this end, the Auuser behavior recognition algorithmAy capability in the direction of the platform understanding and the impact of platform ownerAos will.
This algorithm is able to algorithms and the characteristics of social analyze usersAo texts and, by examining networks on democracy as the main topics usersAo behavior, discover their preference for criticizing this phenomenon.
Therefore.
The impact of platform algorithms on The structure of platforms includes three main elements: the platform owner, the supplier side, and the demand side.
societyAos preferences in a certain direction by changing the content efficiency, limit the information and data received by users, and draw awareness to users in a 185 | A l f u a d V o l u m e 9 N u m b e r 2 .
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Identity and Politics in the Age of Communication A predetermined direction, leading to user means that the need for interests can lead popular social networks to secretly spread fake news, misinformation, or targeted User Deception Algorithm In another example of algorithm design, platform owners can use other algorithms, called Audeception algorithmsAy advertising in line with their established goals, which leads to a decrease in the quality of public discourse (Rakani, 1.
Polarization of political discourse platforms, to increase the efficiency of the Some of the characteristics of social Deception algorithms can occur networks and their impact on democracy in two stages: AusearchAy and Aucontent are derived from the laws governing the suggestionAy (Dong, 2.
When a user One of the network laws, called searches for content or when a platform the law of small worlds, deals with suggests content, these algorithms direct relationships and connections between users to the content the platform wants by This law claims that users of placing content that does not match the userAos search request, and the flow of connected to each other through only six information and awareness is diverted In this phenomenon, users from its main track.
In this situation, by are grouped into clusters with strong ties providing false content and information, and have access to distant individuals in the power of the criterion of Aufreedom of other clusters through long and often weak ties (Van Dijk, 1401, p.
choiceAy weakens in society.
Democracy information on social networks, another profound impact of platforms, especially social networks and digital media, on decision-making and the creation of strong and extensive ties, users can live in different groups and Promoting Fake and Extremist News Due to the feature of user clustering The Effect of Social Networks on Given sources with fake and extremist news, and the influence of intrusive advertising.
This characteristics, and will.
This feature of digital media and social networks can play a significant role in the polarization of political discourse.
For example, the social network Twitter, which is designed to promote interaction and polyphony, but due to the feature of user clustering and grouping, users interact more with those 186 | A l f u a d V o l u m e 9 N u m b e r 2 .
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Identity and Politics in the Age of Communication A who share their views than listen to causes users not to consider themselves to opposing views.
In this situation, people on belong to geographical boundaries and to both sides of the political spectrum are define their identity in global dimensions.
more likely to see those who disagree with In these circumstances, the division in self- them as enemies, rather than citizens with definition .
weakens national unity different opinions (Hizb Elahi, 1.
and undermines democracy.
become a platform for the polarization of political discourses.
CONCLUSION
The phenomenon of the Internet and its development in the modern era have Increasing social divide brought about profound changes in various Although the owners of social The emerging phenomenon of networks claim that in the information age, democracy could not be spared from the with the distribution of power among users changes caused by the digital revolution and the networking of relationships, all and the emergence of digital societies.
The users gain power equally, it must be transition from traditional societies to acknowledged that social networks, due to digital societies forced both enthusiasts their celebrity-making nature and the and critics of the digital revolution to creation of a basis for the entry of influential actors, have deepened the social divide and have in fact designed a space Enthusiasts for the boycott and non-recognition of development of social networks and digital different viewpoints and the reduction of diversity of viewpoints.
participation is becoming the main pillar of Given the plurality of different simultaneous membership of users in become plural and the phenomenon of identity fragmentation emerges.
Due to the assumptions about how religion and Plurality of identity common values and principles in territories also become plural.
Plurality in identity culture function.
They also believe that the power of the Internet is a force for democracy and globalization and an end to centralized control over communications.
On the other hand, critics of digital Internet promotes ignorance as much as it produces Eli Barisar, a scholar in this 187 | A l f u a d V o l u m e 9 N u m b e r 2 .
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Identity and Politics in the Age of Communication A field, also believes that Internet users are entering a personal world that reinforces their known tendencies, while this feature separates each user from the common grounds needed for democratic society and politics and in a threatening and worrying way deprives us of the driving force to (Mohammad Nejad, 2016: .
Critics argue that entering social media, which are primarily presented as participatory platforms, has significantly increased loneliness and plunges people into illusions, the boundary between true and false information is destroyed, and reality is produced and disseminated in an atmosphere full of ambiguity.
In this situation, information can be produced and distributed based on predetermined and personalized goals.
Given the importance of correct information in decision-making, opposite and weakens real democracy in Iran, as a developing country, is technology has had a significant impact on all aspects of Iran, including religion, culture, identity, and politics.
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