Digital Technology and Democratic Theory

Author: Lucy Bernholz
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022674860X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 328

Book Description
One of the most far-reaching transformations in our era is the wave of digital technologies rolling over—and upending—nearly every aspect of life. Work and leisure, family and friendship, community and citizenship have all been modified by now-ubiquitous digital tools and platforms. Digital Technology and Democratic Theory looks closely at one significant facet of our rapidly evolving digital lives: how technology is radically changing our lives as citizens and participants in democratic governments. To understand these transformations, this book brings together contributions by scholars from multiple disciplines to wrestle with the question of how digital technologies shape, reshape, and affect fundamental questions about democracy and democratic theory. As expectations have whiplashed—from Twitter optimism in the wake of the Arab Spring to Facebook pessimism in the wake of the 2016 US election—the time is ripe for a more sober and long-term assessment. How should we take stock of digital technologies and their promise and peril for reshaping democratic societies and institutions? To answer, this volume broaches the most pressing technological changes and issues facing democracy as a philosophy and an institution.

Technology and Democracy: Toward A Critical Theory of Digital Technologies, Technopolitics, and Technocapitalism

Author: Douglas Kellner
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3658317906
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 305

Book Description
As we enter a new millennium, it is clear that we are in the midst of one of the most dramatic technological revolutions in history that is changing everything from the ways that we work, communicate, participate in politics, and spend our leisure time. The technological revolution centers on computer, information, communication, and multimedia technologies, is often interpreted as the beginnings of a knowledge or information society, and therefore ascribes technologies a central role in every aspect of life. This Great Transformation poses tremendous challenges to critical social theorists, citizens, and educators to rethink their basic tenets, to deploy the media in creative and productive ways, and to restructure the workplace, social institutions, and schooling to respond constructively and progressively to the technological and social changes that we are now experiencing.

Digital Democracy and the Impact of Technology on Governance and Politics: New Globalized Practices

Author: Akrivopoulou, Christina M.
Publisher: IGI Global
ISBN: 1466636386
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 389

Book Description
The evolution of modern technology has allowed digital democracy and e-governance to transform traditional ideas on political dialogue and accountability. Digital Democracy and the Impact of Technology on Governance and Politics: New Globalized Practices brings together a detailed examination of the new ideas on electronic citizenship, electronic democracy, e-governance, and digital legitimacy. By combining theory with the study of law and of matters of public policy, this book is essential for both academic and legal scholars, researchers, and practitioners.

Behavioral Political Economy and Democratic Theory

Author: Petr Špecián
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000598543
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 181

Book Description
Drawing on current debates at the frontiers of economics, psychology, and political philosophy, this book explores the challenges that arise for liberal democracies from a confrontation between modern technologies and the bounds of human rationality. With the ongoing transition of democracy’s underlying information economy into the digital space, threats of disinformation and runaway political polarization have been gaining prominence. Employing the economic approach informed by behavioral sciences’ findings, the book’s chief concern is how these challenges can be addressed while preserving a commitment to democratic values and maximizing the epistemic benefits of democratic decision-making. The book has two key strands: it provides a systematic argument for building a behaviorally informed theory of democracy; and it examines how scientific knowledge on quirks and bounds of human rationality can inform the design of resilient democratic institutions. Drawing these together, the book explores the centrality of the rationality assumption in the methodological debates surrounding behavioral sciences as exemplified by the dispute between neoclassical and behavioral economics; the role of (ir)rationality in democratic social choice; behaviorally informed paternalism as a response to the challenge of irrationality; and non-paternalistic avenues to increase the resilience of the democratic institutions toward political irrationality. This book is invaluable reading for anyone interested in behavioral economics and sciences, political philosophy, and the future of democracy.

Designing for Democracy

Author: Jennifer Forestal
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197568750
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 233

Book Description
"How should we 'fix' digital technologies to support democracy instead of undermining it? In Designing for democracy, Jennifer Forestal argues that accurately evaluating the democratic potential of digital spaces means studying how the built environment-a primary component of our 'modern public square'-structures our activity, shapes our attitudes, and supports the kinds of relationships and behaviors democracy requires. Through extended analyses of Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit, Forestal shows precisely how well these digital platforms meet the criteria for democratic spaces, or whether they do so at all. The result is a more nuanced analysis of the democratic communities that form-or fail to emerge-in these spaces, as well as more concrete suggestions for how to improve them."--Page 4 of cover

A Preface to Democratic Theory

Author: Robert A. Dahl
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226134260
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 168

Book Description
Robert Dahl's Preface helped launch democratic theory fifty years ago as a new area of study in political science, and it remains the standard introduction to the field. Exploring problems that had been left unsolved by traditional thought on democracy, Dahl here examines two influential models--the Madisonian, which represents prevailing American doctrine, and its recurring challenger, populist theory--arguing that they do not accurately portray how modern democracies operate. He then constructs a model more consistent with how contemporary democracies actually function, and, in doing so, develops some original views of popular sovereignty and the American constitutional system.

Digital Democracy in a Globalized World

Author: Corien Prins
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1785363964
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 393

Book Description
Whether within or beyond the confines of the state, digitalization continues to transform politics, society and democracy. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have already considerably affected political systems and structures, and no doubt they will continue to do so in the future. Adopting an international and comparative perspective, Digital Democracy in a Globalized World examines the impact of digitialization on democratic political life. It offers theoretical analyses as well as case studies to help readers appreciate the changing nature of democracy in the digital age.

Digital Democracy, Social Media and Disinformation

Author: Petros Iosifidis
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000299783
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 114

Book Description
Digital Democracy, Social Media and Disinformation discusses some of the political, regulatory and technological issues which arise from the increased power of internet intermediaries (such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube) and the impact of the spread of digital disinformation, especially in the midst of a health pandemic. The volume provides a detailed account of the main areas surrounding digital democracy, disinformation and fake news, freedom of expression and post-truth politics. It addresses the major theoretical and regulatory concepts of digital democracy and the ‘network society’ before offering potential socio-political and technological solutions to the fight against disinformation and fake news. These solutions include self-regulation, rebuttals and myth-busting, news literacy, policy recommendations, awareness and communication strategies and the potential of recent technologies such as the blockchain and public interest algorithms to counter disinformation. After addressing what has currently been done to combat disinformation and fake news, the volume argues that digital disinformation needs to be identified as a multifaceted problem, one that requires multiple approaches to resolve. Governments, regulators, think tanks, the academy and technology providers need to take more steps to better shape the next internet with as little digital disinformation as possible by means of a regional analysis. In this context, two cases concerning Russia and Ukraine are presented regarding disinformation and the ways it was handled. Written in a clear and direct style, this volume will appeal to students and researchers within the social sciences, computer science, law and business studies, as well as policy makers engaged in combating what constitutes one of the most pressing issues of the digital age.

Digital Democracy

Author: Kenneth L Hacker
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1446264823
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 239

Book Description
Increasing attention is being paid to the political uses of the new communication technologies. Digital Democracy offers an invaluable in-depth explanation of what issues of theory and application are most important to the emergence and development of computer-mediated communication systems for political purposes. The book provides a wide-ranging critical examination of the concept of virtual democracy as discussed in theory and as implemented in practice and policy that has been hitherto unavailable. It addresses how the Internet, World Wide Web and computer-mediated political communication are affecting democracy and focuses on the various theoretical and practical issues involved in digital democracy. Using international examples Digital Democracy attempts to connect theoretical analysis to considerations of practice and policy.

Democratic Reason

Author: Hélène Landemore
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691176396
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 303

Book Description
Individual decision making can often be wrong due to misinformation, impulses, or biases. Collective decision making, on the other hand, can be surprisingly accurate. In Democratic Reason, Hélène Landemore demonstrates that the very factors behind the superiority of collective decision making add up to a strong case for democracy. She shows that the processes and procedures of democratic decision making form a cognitive system that ensures that decisions taken by the many are more likely to be right than decisions taken by the few. Democracy as a form of government is therefore valuable not only because it is legitimate and just, but also because it is smart. Landemore considers how the argument plays out with respect to two main mechanisms of democratic politics: inclusive deliberation and majority rule. In deliberative settings, the truth-tracking properties of deliberation are enhanced more by inclusiveness than by individual competence. Landemore explores this idea in the contexts of representative democracy and the selection of representatives. She also discusses several models for the "wisdom of crowds" channeled by majority rule, examining the trade-offs between inclusiveness and individual competence in voting. When inclusive deliberation and majority rule are combined, they beat less inclusive methods, in which one person or a small group decide. Democratic Reason thus establishes the superiority of democracy as a way of making decisions for the common good.