Page 43 - Information and American Democracy Technology in the Evolution of Political Power

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Information and Political Change
statistical modeling of the diffusion of information technology and the
relationshipbetweenuseofinformationtechnologyandvariousformsof
politicalbehavior.Iusethisanalysistoexplorethepsychologicalapproach
to explaining individual-level effects of information.
The qualitative evidence deals mainly with elite behavior and the
organization-level effects of information. It begins with the reinterpre-
tation of American political development sketched above, drawing on
secondary literature and selected primary materials extending back to
The Federalist and The Anti-Federalist Papers. This historical review and
analysis provides the foundation for the concept of information regimes.
For the contemporary period, the qualitative evidence takes the form of
case studies based on documentary evidence, public records, and about
eight dozen interviews conducted by telephone and in person in San
Francisco, St. Louis, Santa Barbara, and Washington, D.C. These case
studies deal with political organizations of diverse kinds. They include
ad hoc political groups formed in the absence of virtually all of the tra-
ditional organizational infrastructure typically associated with collective
action, as well as mainstream political organizations with offices, paid
staff, memberships, and other resources. These cases examine how tradi-
tional interest groups and campaign organizations use information in-
frastructure and adopt new strategies in response to new communication
and information-management possibilities. They evaluate the relation-
shipbetweentraditional,bureaucraticformsofpoliticalorganizationand
contemporary organizational forms that can be called‘postbureaucratic.’
While I adapt some of the theoretical apparatus from the study of eco-
nomic organizations, the implications of the contemporary information
revolution for politics are different from its implications for economics.
Inpolitics,nodirectanalogueexiststothemanufactureofphysicalgoods;
therefore, the ascendancy in the economy of services and “knowledge
work” over industrial-era production does not quite have a parallel in
politics. In addition, the process of competition, birth, death, and re-
structuring among private firms has only a partial analogue in politics.
Withincomparativelyfewconstraints,economicorganizationscomeand
go, or merge and reorganize in response to market conditions and the
strategic efforts of economic actors. Only certain types of political orga-
nizations operate in a similarly liberal marketplace, namely, media busi-
nesses, interest groups, civic associations, and other nongovernmental
organizations. On the other hand, formal government institutions are
rooted in the Constitution or in laws that are not readily changed, and so
they do not respond directly and autonomously to changing conditions

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