Cyberdemocracy: Transforming Politics

Description

This book is explicitly modernist at a time when many scholars have either forgotten the emancipatory promise of the Enlightenment or railed against it in the name of postmodernism. The book, broadly, adopts a hybrid epistemology that utilises the critical insights of Geisteswissenschaften Tradition (Weberian ‘Ideal-Type Analysis’) and the Habermas (1988) notions of the ‘public sphere’ and deliberative/dialogic democracy (‘ideal speech’) to advance a general proposition of democratic renewal by way of cyberdemocracy. Curiously, as democracy spreads across the world in the age of globalisation, it has also been accompanied by increased discontent with democratic systems. To that end, this book is not overly concerned with saving democracy beyond the liberal representative model, rather the focus is on how modern representative democracy has failed and how cyberdemocracy might function as a more effective model that truly represents the people by broadening participation and reflexive deliberation. Contents 1: Introduction Bibliography 2: Democracy with an ‘E’ Introduction Democracy: A Brief History Modern Democracy Current Issues Facing Democracy Making a Path for Cyberdemocracy The Rise of the Platform Society Bibliography 3: The Enlightenment and Beyond Introduction The Enlightenment Enlightenment Rationalism and the Rise of Capitalism Questions of Subjectivity in the Enlightenment and Beyond Questions of Representation in the Enlightenment and Beyond Bibliography 4: Representative Democracy and Crisis The Decline of Representative Democracy Modern Democracy and Its Shortcomings: A Survey of Data and Recent Scholarship Globalism, Populism, Representative Democracy, and Government The Decline of the Nation-State (Die postnationale Konstellation) Bibliography 5: The Public Sphere and Global Capital Deliberation Reconsideration of the Public Sphere (Institutions of Democracy) Legitimation Crisis: Declining Confidence in Institutions and Leadership Neoliberalism: Against Democracy and Equality Cyberdemocracy: Addressing the Institutional and Political Vacuum Created by Neoliberalism Bibliography 6: Deliberative Democracy The Imminent Decline of Representative Democracy: Myth or Reality? Can Representative Democracy Be Participatory and Deliberative? Liquid Democracy and the Global Village Bibliography 7: Theorising the Cyberdemocratic Terrain Is Deliberative Mass Participation in the Political Sphere Possible Under Capitalism? Democracy Transformed: Cyberdemocracy as the Fourth Democratic Transformation Barriers to Cyberdemocracy Technological Determinism: Crisis of Legitimation and Cyberdemocracy Transforming the Ecology of Mobilisations (Extremism, Populism, Post-Truth) Bibliography 8: Civic Engagement and the Privatisation of the Public Sphere The Geisteswissenschaften Tradition: Free Will and Political Agency Revitalising Civic Engagement Through Cyberdemocracy Privatisation of the Public Sphere and the Platform Society Bibliography 9: The Westminster Model: Points and Issues Accountability and Transparency (Ethical Standards) Free and Fair Flow of Information Justice (The Rule of Law) Merit-Based Competitions Bibliography 10: Cyberdemocracy and the Public Sphere John Rawls’s Theory of Justice and the Veiled Ignorance Thought Experiment Freedom and Fairness for All Collective, Direct Decision-Making (Inclusivity) Frequent Citizens’ Consultation (Civil Discourse) The Public Sphere Empowering Citizen Participation Bibliography 11: The Cyberdemocratic Future: Some Final Thoughts Conclusion Bibliography Bibliography Index