International Journal of Communications Law & Policy

WHICH TECHNOLOGY FOR WHICH DEMOCRACY? WHICH DEMOCRACY FOR WHICH TECHNOLOGY?
ByBenjamin R. Barber

Download the Paper in PDF Format: IJCLP Web-Doc 5-6-2001

Abstract

The author looks at the interface between democracy and technology, finding that one of the main struggles with the discussion on electronic democracy is that those who know most about technology usually know very little about democracy and vice versa. Being one of the leading democratic theorists of our time, he takes this as an opportunity to examine various features of new technologies himself and to share his views on their impact on the future development of democracy. The paper is the written transcript of Barber's closing keynote speech which he delivered to the conference on "Electronic Democracy - Civic Exchange in Cyberspace", held in Bielefeld, Germany, in October 2000 and hosted by the Institute for Information, Telecommunications and Media Law (University of Münster) and the Center for Interdisciplinary Research (University of Bielefeld).