Page 23 - Information and American Democracy Technology in the Evolution of Political Power

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Information and Political Change
what theoretical connections might link contemporary developments
with important historical episodes, such as the emergence of interest
group politics a century ago and the development of party politics a cen-
tury before that. In what ways might the history of American political
development shed light on current changes in American politics, and
vice versa?
The process of synthesizing a larger, theoretical framework for un-
derstanding information technology and politics has proven divisive as
scholars attempt to capture various developments in technology under
the rubrics of political scale, equality, deliberation, community, social
association, and the like. One theorist is Benjamin Barber, who in Strong
Democracy advocates the use of information and communication tech-
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nologies for enhancing citizen engagement with democratic affairs. In
that work, published while the revolution in information technology
was in its infancy, Barber addresses the possibility of telecommunica-
tion technology serving as a means for overcoming problems of scale
in large democracies and for creating communicative forums such as
“town halls,” which would not be limited by physical proximity. Similar
views are suggested by other political theorists not widely known for
their conceptions of information technology. The best example is Robert
Dahl, who argues that democracy is threatened more by inequalities as-
sociated with information and knowledge than by inequalities in wealth
or economic position. Dahl writes in Democracy and Its Critics that
information technologies may provide important remedies for politi-
cal inequality by making political information more universally accessi-
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ble. Communitarian theorist Amitai Etzioni makes a similar argument,
claiming that technological improvements in the flow of information
maybothenhanceequalityandcontributetotheconstructionofstronger
community. 7
Ontheotherhand,anumberofscholarshavecometomorepessimistic
conclusions, among them empirical researchers who bring a vital calibra-
tion to purely deductive analysis. Some of these researchers have argued
that the politically decentralizing capacities of information technology,
like those demonstrated in the story of the Libertarians and the FDIC,
will be overcome by traditional organizational interests. Some suggest
that traditional media firms will successfully colonize new technology,

5 Benjamin R. Barber, Strong Democracy (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984).
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Robert A. Dahl, Democracy and Its Critics (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989).
7 Amitai Etzioni, The Spirit of Community: Rights, Responsibilities, and the Communitar-
ian Agenda (New York: Crown Publishers, 1993).

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