Building Knowledge Societies: The renewal of democratic practices in knowledge societies (UNESCO World Report)
The core issue for this chapter concerns the political consequences of knowledge societies, in particular its capacities for strengthening democracy and good governance. To consider these issues, Part I summarizes debates about the impact of knowledge societies on the public sphere. The main influence of this development, it is theorized, will be determined by the ‘supply’ and ‘demand’ for electronic political information and communications, and demand is heavily dependent, in turn, upon the social characteristics of Internet users and their prior political orientations. Given this understanding, the study predicts that the primary impact of knowledge societies will be upon facilitating cause-oriented and civic forms of activism, thereby strengthening social movements, more than upon conventional channels of participation exemplified by voting and campaigning. Part II summarizes the sources of survey data and the key measures of political activism used in his study, drawing upon the 19-nation European Social Survey, 2002. Part III examines the evidence for the relationship between use of the Internet and indicators of civic engagement. Part IV focuses in particular upon UK case studies assessing the effect of remote electronic voting in elections. The conclusion in Part V summarizes the results and considers the policy implications for promoting democracy and good governance.
The core issue for this chapter concerns the political consequences of knowledge societies, in particular its capacities for strengthening democracy and good governance. To consider these issues, Part I summarizes debates about the impact of knowledge societies on the public sphere. The main influence of this development, it is theorized, will be determined by the ‘supply’ and ‘demand’ for electronic political information and communications, and demand is heavily dependent, in turn, upon the social characteristics of Internet users and their prior political orientations. Given this understanding, the study predicts that the primary impact of knowledge societies will be upon facilitating cause-oriented and civic forms of activism, thereby strengthening social movements, more than upon conventional channels of participation exemplified by voting and campaigning. Part II summarizes the sources of survey data and the key measures of political activism used in his study, drawing upon the 19-nation European Social Survey, 2002. Part III examines the evidence for the relationship between use of the Internet and indicators of civic engagement. Part IV focuses in particular upon UK case studies assessing the effect of remote electronic voting in elections. The conclusion in Part V summarizes the results and considers the policy implications for promoting democracy and good governance.
Puedes encontrar el documento entero en http://ksghome.harvard.edu/~pnorris/Acrobat/UNESCO%20Report%20Knowledge%20Societies.pdf
