Media and the Evolution of Politics in Modern Civilization; Examining the Role of the Media in the Formation and Evolution of Political and Civilizational Structures in the Digital Age

The media have long played a fundamental role in shaping political and civilized structures, but in the digital age, this role has undergone a fundamental transformation. Digital media are no longer simply tools for transmitting information; they have become active actors in the reproduction and transformation of civilized and political relations. By transcending the limitations of time and space, new media have transformed the processes of forming civilizational identities, distributing power, political legitimization, and rearranging civilizational orders in an unprecedented way. This research, using the method of content analysis and referring to the prominent theories of McLuhan's "global village", Castells' "network society", Habermas' "public sphere", Gramsci's "cultural hegemony", and McCombs and Shaw's "salience", examines the role of media in civilizational developments and shows how digital media have been effective in developing civilizational discourses, redefining relationships between cultures and societies, and also intensifying or weakening civilizational gaps. The research findings show that on the one hand, the media have contributed to inter-civilizational interactions, strengthening cultural discourses, and accelerating the processes of civilizational convergence, and on the other hand, they have led to the expansion of information inequalities, cultural colonialism, and deepening ideological divisions. In the meantime, the media have become a tool for representing, consolidating, and even challenging civilizational values ​​and norms. Finally, while digital media have created unparalleled capacities for connecting civilizations, they have also brought about a kind of rearrangement in power relations and civilizational structures that require critical and in-depth analysis.