Lecture 2. Technology and politics Flashcards
What does Winner mean when he says ‘Artifacts have politics’? Explain the ‘two ways’ he writes about.
Accidental or deliberate:
- Accidental: Technical arrangements as forms of order e.g. mechanical tomato harvester (p. 126) technologies are ways of building order like legislative acts they shape society for years to come and from the inception we are not all equal in front of them
Deliberate: Inherently political technologies
-The adoption of a certain technical system requires a particular set of social conditions as its operating environment
-A given kind of technology is strongly compatible with, but does not strictly require, particular social and political relationships.
INITIAL CHOICE ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT TO ADOPT SOMETHING
Digitalisation and political regimes: How do Winner and Jasanoff explain the relationship between technology and politics?
- What do they describe as ‘state-of-the-art’?
- How do they challenge this ‘state-of-the-art’?
- On which points do they agree? What is special to each of them?
what do they describe as state of the art:
Technology has implications on politics and democracy. Jasanoff: Scientific and technological development cannot be reigned. Still, they steer the development of societies, which has implications on democracy.
How do they challege this state of the art?:
Jasanoff challenges three widely held assumptions about the foundations of politics: materiality, presentism, and localism. These are disrupted by the development of science and technology.
Winner: stresses the importance on studying the technologies’ inherent ability to change power dynamics instead of merely the ability to use technology in order to change power dynamics. He divides technological capabilities based on technologies that are inherently political (deliberate) and those that function as forms of order (accidental)
On which points do they agree?
Technology has implications on society and power and democracy.
How they differ?
Jasanoff expands this understanding to science, that development in science has implications on society.
Jasanoff also writes more about the futuremaking whereas Winner writes about past changes.
Winner focuses on outcomes on power structures -output legitimacy, while Jasanoff focuses on democratic means to influence - input legitimacy
What are political regimes?
The ruling apparatus of the state.
Historical variety.
Contemporary scale - from authoritarian to democratic.
Why regimes matter?
- individual freedoms, human rights
- economic performance
- stability and peace
- state of the environment
The stereotypical extreme of democracy
Free competitive elections High degree of representation
Liberal democracy focus on procedures for decision-making
Participatory democracy - inclusive and comprehensive involvement of citizens
Deliberative democracy institutionalised procedures + rational deliberation
The stereotypical extreme of authoritarianism
Centralised authority
Poor separation of powers
Little (space for) political mobilisation
Citizens as subjects
Limitations on political process and freedoms
Democracy Index Criteria Economist (5 points)
I Electoral process and pluralism II Functioning of government
III Political participation
IV Political culture
V Civil liberties
Democracy Index Criteria Freedom House (4 points)
- A competitive, multiparty political system.
- Universal adult suffrage.
- Regularly contested elections conducted on the basis of secret ballots, reasonable ballot security and the absence of massive voter fraud.
- Significant public access of major political parties to the electorate through the media and through generally open campaigning.
What is digital democracy?
Hacker and van Dijk 2000b: 1
The use of information and communication technology (ICT) and computer-mediated communication (CMC) in all kinds of media (e.g. the internet, interactive broadcasting and digital telephony) for purposes of enhancing political democracy or the participation of citizens in democratic communication.”
-democracy refers to the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in political debates and decision-making processes, complementing or contrasting traditional means of communications, such as face-to-face interaction or one-way
Council of Europe 2009: 11
“E-democracy is one of several strategies for supporting democracy, democratic institutions and democratic processes and spreading democratic values. It is additional, complementary to, and interlinked with traditional processes of
-democracy encompasses, in particular, e-parliament, e-legislation, e-justice, e- mediation, e-environment, e-election, e-referendum, e-initiative, e-voting, e- consultation, e-petitioning, e-campaigning, e-polling and e-surveying; it makes use of e-participation, e-deliberation.”
Dimensions of digital democracy
E-voting and E-participation
E-government and E-governance
Effects of new ICT on democracy
Hacker and van Dijk (2000b: 4)
- ICT increases the scale and speed of providing information. This helps create more informed citizens;
- Political participation is made easier and certain obstacles like apathy, shyness, disabilities, time, etc., can be lessened;
- CMC creates new ways of organizing with subject-specific groups for discussion, cheap distribution costs, etc.;
- The Net allows new political communities to arise free from state intervention;
- A hierarchical political system becomes more horizontal by increasing political CMC;
- Citizens will have more voice in creating agendas for government;
- CMC will help remove distorting mediators like journalists, representatives and parties;
- Politics will be able to respond more directly to citizen concerns as ICT and CMC enable a kind of political marketing research;
- ICT and CMC will help resolve problems of representative democracy such as territorial bases of constituencies, etc.
Digital tools would speed up deliberation to a superficial level;
SoMe can support populism, increase information inequality, and be incapable of countering a basic lack of political motivation among the citizenry;
the Internet could be more concentrated than traditional media and the ease of placing messages on the Internet would not be matched by similar options of being heard;
Increased radicalisation and mobilisation potential of the Internet.
Digitalisation in authoritarian regimes
Internet as a ‘libaration technology’ enablses citizens “report news, expose wrongdoing, express opinions, mobilize protest, monitor elections, scrutinize government, deepen participation, and expand the horizons of freedom” (Diamond, 2010) civic resistance, mass mobilisation, online protest, hacktivism.
Digital authoritarianism - “the use of the Internet and related digital technologies by leaders with authoritarian tendencies to decrease trust in public institutions, increase social and political control, and/or undermine civil liberties” (Yayboke and Brannen, 2020).
Explain the dimensions of the China Model of Internet Control, Freedom House
- The Great Firewall: Blocking foreign social media, websites, and messaging apps
- Content Removal: Posts that criticise officials systematically removed
- Revoking Access: Mobile and internet connectivity denied as punishment for activism
- Online Manipulation: paid commentators drown out government criticism
- Legislating Censorship: New laws tighten regulations on online media
- High-tech Surveillance: Citizens’ behaviour monitored via AI and facial recognition tools
- Critics Arrested: Individuals regularly detained for online posts
- Violence: Digital activists forcibly disappeared or tortured in detention
- Technical Attacks: Dissidents suffer from persistent cyber attacks and spear phishing.
Authoritarian digitalisation as a threat
Yayboke and Brannen, 2020:
- Expansion of surveillance and control - AI, facial recognition, and the Internet of things have increased the ability of authoritarian regimes to surveil and control individual citizens.
- Expanding abroad - surveillance and control of their own citizens abroad and citizens of other countries.
- Exporting abroad - tools of control are being commercially exported.
