[Marxism] Liberal democracy and the future we face

["Jurriaan Bendien" <bendien@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Found this while searching for something different - food for thought,
perhaps ?.

As a result of the rapid development of modern Information and
Communications Technology, the debate about the theory and practice of
democracy has been revivified. It is widely acknowledged that the Internet
generates both unique chances and threats to traditional democratic
institutions and practices. Contributors to the debates have all very
different points of view, but all seem to acknowledge the fact that we are
at the crossroads of two important developments: the decline of traditional
democracy and the rapid growth of the new media. (...) Authors who study the
economics and dynamics of Large Technological Systems (LTS), such as
nation-wide air traffic control systems, electricity networks, networked
computer systems, large nuclear powerplants, state that a lack of knowledge
and reflection "can set public organisations on path dependent directions
that may be undesirable and difficult to change " (Demchak, e.a. 1998: 226).
According to these studies "early technical decisions may set the structural
and cognitive conditions for organisational effectiveness and ethics. Value
choices underlying system designs and policies are not always readily
apparent , but close attention to them is vital if these large technical
systems are to be established and to function in ways to support democratic
goals and practices" (ibid.). Deborah Johnson has carefully articulated in
which ways the design of information infrastructures may be affected by
value choices (Johnson 1998). (...)

complete text at:
http://www.univ.trieste.it/~dipfilo/etica_e_politica/1999_2/jeroen.html





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