Liquid Democracy and the Futures of Governance

Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksChapterpeer-review

Authors

  • José Ramos

World Wide Web technologies create fundamentally new potentials for social interaction and decision-making among diverse social actors. A new generation of Web technologies, accompanied by new political cultures, portends an ushering of radical transformations in democratic decision-making. This chapter asks three critical questions: (1) How do emerging Web technologies deepen democratic participation? (2) How do we avoid or transform scenarios where Web technologies are employed to maintain political-economic oligarchies of power? and (3) What new political cultures or political contracts may emerge through the convergence of Web technology and political engagement? This chapter uses the recent precedent of Liquid Democracy online decision-making experiments in Germany, to answer these questions and peer into the futures of governance. The study came to the following conclusions: (1) We are witnessing a shift from formal representative democracy to situational and fluid forms of governance; (2) Alongside this we are seeing a deepening of political participation, which may bring forth new political cultures and political contracts; and, (3) A number of possible scenarios emerge from the decline of formal representative democracy—A possible “Liquid Revolution” where online governance has transformed democracy; a “Steady-state Oligarchy” where pseudo-representative and oligarchic powers persist; a “Partner State” where representative and online variegated governance is blended; and a “War of the Worlds” where statist and variegated governance online systems aggressively compete for power.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Future Internet : Alternative Visions
EditorsJenifer Winter, Ryota Ono
Number of pages19
Place of PublicationCham
PublisherSpringer Verlag
Publication date2015
Pages173-191
ISBN (print)978-3-319-22993-5 , 978-3-319-79442-6
ISBN (electronic)978-3-319-22994-2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2015

    Research areas

  • Digital technology, Governance futures, Lateral power, Liquid Democracy, Political contract, Political culture
  • Digital media
  • Cultural studies

Recently viewed

Publications

  1. "Wissenschaftsgeschichte 3mal anders"
  2. Grundlagentraining - Sprung : Die Gretchenfrage: Flop oder Schere?
  3. Mehrsprachigkeit und Interkulturalität in Fremdsprachenportfolios
  4. Lebensalter
  5. Charlotte Moth
  6. Die Schrecken des 'Alten': Old Wabble
  7. Inter- und Transdisziplinarität
  8. Unternehmensteuerreform 2008
  9. Cybernetics | Kybernetik 2. The Macy-Conferences 1946-1953
  10. Exposing the machinic present
  11. Support of Capacity Building for Sustainable Regional and Local Development in Slovakia by Means of a German-Slovakian Further Education Project.
  12. Friction hysteresis compensation using phase correction of periodic trajectories
  13. Randzonen des Willens
  14. Waving goodbye to conflict of laws? Recent developments in European Union consumer law
  15. Saproxylic beetle assemblages of three managed oak woodlands in the Eastern Mediterranean
  16. Bifunctional recombinant protein SDF1-GPVI as a new therapeutic concept for improved regeneration
  17. Participation in River Basin Planning Under the Water Framework Directive – Has it Benefitted Good Water Status?
  18. Exploring the potential role of priority effects for ecological restoration
  19. Rekbaar en toch precies
  20. Sustainable health products and service solutions in the year 2050
  21. After Occupy
  22. Das digitale Bild gibt es nicht
  23. Saproxylic beetles in the Gartow region of Lower Saxony, a hotspot of invertebrate diversity in north-western Germany
  24. Regional Mobility Spaces? Visa Waiver Policies and Regional Integration
  25. Programa de Maestría Internacional ‘Sustainable Development and Management’
  26. The Influence of ISO 14001 and EMAS Certification on Environmental and Economic Performance of Firms: An Empirical Analysis
  27. Death of an Art Critic
  28. New taxonomic and faunistic data on the genus Zodarion Walckenaer, 1826 (Araneae: Zodariidae) in the Balkans, with the descriptions of two new species
  29. Molecules in silico