Digitising Democracy: On Reinventing Democracy In The Digital Era - A Legal, Political And Psychological Perspective

156 Pages·2020·2.809 MB·English

by  Volker Boehme-Neßler

Volker Boehme-Neßler
Digitising
Democracy
On Reinventing Democracy in the Digital
Era - A Legal, Political and Psychological
Perspective
Digitising Democracy
Volker Boehme-Neßler
Digitising Democracy
On Reinventing Democracy in the Digital
Era - A Legal, Political and Psychological
Perspective
VolkerBoehme-Neßler
DepartmentofComputerScience,Economics
andLaw
CarlvonOssietzkyUniversityof
Oldenburg
Oldenburg,Germany
ISBN978-3-030-34555-6 ISBN978-3-030-34556-3 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34556-3
UpdatedandextendedEnglishtranslationof“DasEndederDemokratie?-EffektederDigitalisierungaus
rechtlicher,politologischerundpsychologischerSicht”.©Springer-VerlagGmbHDeutschland,einTeil
vonSpringerNature2018
©SpringerNatureSwitzerlandAG2020
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Preface
Digitalisationischangingeverything.Atthesametime,itisnotaforceofnaturethat
we are mercilessly exposed to. Digitalisation can be shaped both politically and
legally.Thesearethetwobasicideasthatthisbookexplores.
Is digitalisation good or bad for democracy? That is still very much an open
question. Digitalisation has the potential to improve and deepen democracy. How-
ever,digitalisationalsoposesathreattodemocracy.Itchallengesdemocracy.More
and more evidence shows that digitalisation is pushing classical parliamentary
democracy to its very limits. In the digitalised world, democracy no longer simply
functionsasithasinthepast.
Thisdoesnotmeanwavinggoodbyetodemocracyintheageofdigitalisation—
butweneedtoreinventdemocracytoalargeextent.Whythisisthecaseandhowit
couldworkarethecentralthemesofthisbook.
Dr. Brigitte Reschke from Springer-Verlag is always open to innovative ideas.
She encouraged and supported the creation of the book, for which I would like to
express my deepest gratitude. Manuela Schwietzer (Springer-Verlag) managed the
(digital) production process with reassuring professionalism. That is what authors
really need. Thank you! My research assistant Sophie Tschorr, LLB, LLM
(London),hasbeenveryhelpfulinmymaterialresearch:Thankyou,again!
ThebookisdedicatedtomysonThao—whatwouldIdowithoutyou?
Berlin/Oldenburg,Germany VolkerBoehme-Neßler
September2019
v
Contents
1 Digitalisation:TheEndofDemocracy?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 TheEndofDemocracy?DigitalisationandDemocracy. . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Digitalisation.TechnologyandCulture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2.1 Technology.DigitalisationandNetworking. . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2.2 TheCulturalCoreofDigitalisation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2 Boundary-Free.TheCoreofDigitalisation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.1 TheEndofBoundaries?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.1.1 PhysicalDissolutionofBoundaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.1.2 DissolutionofSocialBoundaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.1.3 SocialPsychology:TheFlexibleHuman. . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.1.4 UbiquitousComputing:ExtremeDissolution
ofBoundaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.1.5 AffectiveComputing:EndlessDissolution
ofBoundaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1.6 AnalogueWorld:TheBoundaryoftheDissolution
ofBoundaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.1.7 HomoGeographicus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.1.8 CultureandDissolutionofBoundaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.1.9 NewBoundariesThroughCommunityBuilding. . . . . . . . 13
2.1.10 FullyDecoupled?CyberspaceandRealLife. . . . . . . . . . 15
2.2 TheEndoftheNationState?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.2.1 TheStateandGeographicalBorders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.2.2 BitState.StatehoodinaDigitalisedWorld. . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.2.3 EndoftheState:OrTransformation?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.2.4 PsychologyoftheState. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
vii
viii Contents
2.3 TheEndofDemocracy?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.3.1 UnthinkableWithoutEachOther?StateandDemocracy. . . 21
2.3.2 DemocraticThinkingvs.StatistThinking. . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.3.3 ANewDemocracyintheDigitalWorld. . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3 Fragmentation.ManyWorlds,OneDemocracy?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3.1 Digitalisation:FragmentationoftheWorld. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3.1.1 Modularisation.FragmentationasaMethod. . . . . . . . . . . 31
3.1.2 Asynchronicity.FragmentationofTime. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
3.1.3 FilterBubble.FragmentationThroughExtreme
Personalisation. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. 34
3.1.4 HyperfocusandNiceWorld.AtrophyingofThought. . . . 35
3.2 ThePublicSphereintheDigitalisedWorld. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.2.1 (Media)PublicSphereandDemocracy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.2.2 Digitalisation:PublicSpheresInsteadofOne
PublicSphere. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.2.3 FragmentationandMajorityVoting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 40
3.2.4 PublicSpace:SocialandCulturalSignificance. . . . . . . . . 42
3.2.5 SocialMediaasaDemocraticPublicSphere?. . . . . . . . . 43
3.2.6 SocialMedia:ExclusivePublicSphere
byPrivateEntities?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.2.7 MachineCensorship:ThePowerofSearchEngines. . . . . 45
3.3 DemocraticDiscourseintheDigitalisedWorld. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3.3.1 DigitalDiscourse:AttentionandAnonymity. . . . . . . . . . 47
3.3.2 EmotionalisingtheDemocraticDebate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3.3.3 SocialBots:DiscourseandElectionCampaigns
byRobots. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3.3.4 TheEndoftheCompromise?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
3.4 DigitalDemocracy:EmotionsInsteadofReason?. . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
3.4.1 DemocracyandReason. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
3.4.2 EmotionalDemocracy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4 Algo-democracy.PowerofTechnology,Powerlessness
ofDemocracy?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
4.1 TechnologyandSociety. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
4.1.1 Interplay:CultureandTechnology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
4.1.2 Control?InfluenceofLawonTechnology. . . . . . . . . . . . 63
4.1.3 Necessity?LegalRulesforTechnology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
4.2 FromCodeIsLawtoLawIsCode. . . . .. . . .. . . . .. . . . .. . . .. 67
4.2.1 TechnologyInsteadofPolitics:TheLawoftheNerds. . . 67
4.2.2 Excursus:SocialPsychologyoftheNerds. . . . . . . . . . . . 70
4.2.3 NerdLawandConstitution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
4.2.4 EnvironmentRightsasaTool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Contents ix
4.2.5 TheScoredSociety. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
4.2.6 LawIsCode.DigitalCodevs.DemocraticLaw. . . . . . . . 75
4.3 DemocracyThroughTechnology?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
4.3.1 AnAmbivalentRelationship:Technology
andDemocracy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
4.3.2 DemocraticVisions:ElectronicDemocracy. . . . . . . . . . . 78
4.3.3 ParticipationinDigitalDemocracy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
4.3.4 OnlineElections:PsychologyandSymbolism. . . . . . . . . 82
4.3.5 MonitoryDemocracy:TheNetwork’sTransparency
Promise. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
4.4 DemocraticAlgorithms?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
4.4.1 GovernancebyAlgorithms:TheImportanceofAlgorithms
intheDigitalisedWorld. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
4.4.2 GovernanceofAlgorithms:TheDemocraticProblem
ofAlgorithms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
4.5 Conclusion:DigitalTechnologyasanOpportunityandRisk
for(Representative)Democracy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
5 Overloaded.ClassicalDemocracy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
5.1 DigitalComplexity.TheChallengetoDemocracy. . . . . . . . . . .. . 97
5.2 ComplexityThroughDigitalNetworking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
5.2.1 Networks:PatternsofLife. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
5.2.2 ComplexityThroughDigitalNetworking. . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
5.3 ComplexityThroughDigitalAcceleration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
5.3.1 AccelerationThroughTechnologicalChange. . . . . . . . . . 103
5.3.2 ViciousCircleofAcceleration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
5.4 Snail’sPace.DemocracyasaSlowFormofGovernment. . . . . . . 104
5.4.1 FreeWill.DevelopmentofDemocraticAwareness. . . . . . 105
5.4.2 Reflection.IntegrationoftheMany. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
5.5 Tempocracy.DemocracyandDigitalTempo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
5.5.1 ClashofCultures.DemocracyandLawvs.Acceleration.. . 106
5.5.2 Democracy’sSpeedDilemma. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
5.6 Overloaded:ClassicalDemocracy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
5.6.1 Mechanistic:TheClassicalConceptionofDemocracy. . . 108
5.6.2 Alternatives?BeyondMechanicalDemocracy. . . . . . . . . 109
5.6.3 Democracy:IstheResultAllThatMatters?. . . . . . . . . . . 111
5.6.4 Conclusion:LevelofLegitimacyInsteadofChain
ofLegitimation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
6 ComplexityManagement:ReinventingDemocracy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
6.1 BreathingDemocracyintheDigitalAge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
6.2 OntheWaytoaBreathingDemocracy?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
6.2.1 MinimumStandardsofDemocracy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
6.2.2 MajorityInsteadofTruth:DemocraticWisdom. . . . . . . . 122
6.2.3 DemosandDemocracy:ThePsychologicalFactor. . . . . . 123
x Contents
6.2.4 EqualityandFreedom:CornerstonesofDemocracy. . . . . 125
6.2.5 Trust:TheUnderestimatedFactor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
6.2.6 BreathingDemocracy:WideScopeforShaping
Democracy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
6.3 CrystallineDemocracy:TheStableCore. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
6.3.1 HumanDignityandHumanRights. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
6.3.2 TheHumanRighttoDemocracy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
6.3.3 Infrastructure.DemocracyThroughLawandInstitutions. . . 132
6.3.4 Regionalisation.DemocracyThroughFragmentation. . . . 134
6.3.5 BasicDemocraticTrust. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
6.4 FluidDemocracy:TheFlexibleShell. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
6.4.1 (Political)Communication. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
6.4.2 DigitalDemocracyTool.NetworksWithoutBorders. . . . 138
6.4.3 PoliticalCulture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
6.4.4 DemocraticPoliticalCulture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
6.4.5 DigitalDemocraticCulture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
6.5 BridgingtheGap:TimeforDemocraticExperiments. . . . . . . . . . 143
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Chapter 1
Digitalisation: The End of Democracy?
Whilstdigitalisationisultimatelyatechnologicalphenomenon,itisalsomuchmore
than that: digitalisation has a cultural aspect that is changing all areas of society.
Digitalisationisalsoposingarangeofchallengestodemocracyitself.
1.1 The End of Democracy? Digitalisation and Democracy
Theendofdemocracyhasoftenbeenheraldedorforetold.Recentdecadeshaveseen
a cascade of sceptical pronouncements and prophecies about the state of democ-
racy.1 Even if some of these are far-fetched or exaggerated,2 democracy is under
considerablepressuretochangearoundtheworld.Therearemanyreasonsforthis.It
isclearthatglobalisationishaving—andwillcontinuetohave—amajorimpacton
democracy.Justasimportant,however,areculturaldevelopmentsandprocessesof
social modernisation. This process affects not only individual manifestations and
specific details, but also the very foundations of the democratic ideal and the
structures of democratic systems. Is this leading to an erosion of democracy? Or
are these normal processes of adjustment that will not destabilise the democratic
system?
That democracy is changing is, of course, nothing new. Modern representative
democracy is a far cry from the original agora democracy of Greek antiquity.
Democratic forms and processes are, by their very nature, constantly developing.
Theyneedtobeabletofunctionevenunderchangingpolitical,economicorcultural
conditions.Whatmattersisnottheconcreteformofdemocracy,butratherthatthe
1Norris(2001),p.3f.providesanoverviewofthediscussioninpoliticalscience.
2Norris(2001),p.63ff.andpassimwithfurthercitations,arrivesathighlydifferentiatedresultson
thebasisofextensiveempiricalmaterial.Thereisnoempiricalevidenceofageneralerosionof
democracy.
©SpringerNatureSwitzerlandAG2020 1
V.Boehme-Neßler,DigitisingDemocracy,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34556-3_1