TLDR: Can the Internet strengthen democracy?
Reconfiguring democratic politics is even more important than coming to terms with the Internet as a feature of our age. — Stephen Coleman
This is first of a series of my TLDR book reviews on technology, transparency and civic engagement.
I have had some doubts before reading that book about it being too tech-centric. Stephen Coleman, Professor of Political Communication at the University of Leeds, resolved these right on the first page by dumping the titular question and instead inviting us to ask What democracy do we want to make for ourselves? He is posing all the right questions, giving enough time to think those through before proposing a frame for solutions.
After mentioning existing work on the topic, professor frames the problem area that we are seeing by our very own eyes. Politics and power have become quite decoupled. Representatives are no longer representing any constituent [if ever they have been]. Media intermediaries are changing but the mode of communications is still similar to when we welcomed television in our homes. People don’t feel they can influence power.
TLDR, addressing those challenges in the age of connective communication and action, Stephen Coleman proposes four democratic capabilities people need in order to “live” democracy:
- Make sense of the political world — slow down the political process and narrative around it so people could understand major issues.
Counter-intuitive as it may seem, a valuable contribution that the Internet could make to democracy would be to decelerate exposure, allowing people time to think about what the trends and events mean; to work out what they think about them; and to hear from others who interpret information differently.
2. Be open to argumentative exchange — introduce deliberative processes and spaces where people with different views can exchange their arguments and emotions in a respectful way. Tackle crisis of listening.
3. Be recognized as someone who counts — I do count. I am being heard. I can find others who thinks similarly.
For democracy to benefit from interactive governance, spaces of political articulation and consensus-building are needed that are trusted by both citizens and elected representatives.
4. Be able to make a difference — Understanding the issues, discussing with others and having our voices heard is nothing if it doesn’t translate into change. We need new civic forms of political agency.
That’s it! Grab a book from your nearest e-book store to follow Stephen Coleman action-provoking thinking.
PS. Two references that caught my attention:
- “Open Up” by UK’s Parliament Digital Democracy Commission
- “The logic of Connective Action” Benett & Segerberg — Theory of grassroots connective distributed action such as Occupy
