http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/bitwise/2015/07/greece_referendum_the_standoff_couldn_t_have_happened_without_the_internet.html

Once again, negotiations between Greece and its creditors have stalled, and now a hastily called referendum set for Sunday raises the shocking possibility of Greece leaving the European Union. The EU has been an unruly beast for a long time, yet most of its leaders, including Greece’s previous establishment governments, have never seriously raised the specter of leaving. Years of recession and sky-high unemployment in Greece resulted in the election earlier this year of Syriza, a defiantly radical left-wing party that was polling in the single digits a decade ago. But what’s occurring right now, as Greece does battle with the EU over economic policy, its fate suddenly in the hands of voters, feels new for another reason: It is a bold, imperfect, and high-velocity form of mass democracy made possible only through the Internet.