Giovanni Navarria

The Three Faces of Government in the Age of the Internet and the future of Activism within a condition of shared weakness

Abstract

This paper argues that within the wide milieu of the network society the relation between those who use power and those who are affected by that power changes radically. Following a three faces framework, the paper demonstrates that the technological revolution of the last decade has significantly altered the balance between government and subjects. The transformation of government into e-government is not simply a means to increase efficiency and economic gains; it is also an element of power. Therefore, it can be approached from three different perspectives, three descriptive modes of relating itself with power: 1) as a new form of governmentality attempting to create a favourable environment where, behind the benevolent façade of the perfect service provider, it hides a subtle system of control; 2) As a quintessential Big Brother of the Internet age, where technology serves as a strong amplifier of pre-existing patterns of domination, it gives the State extra power to see everything and control everybody; 3) lastly, the e-government revolution can be seen as carrying within it the seeds of the future of democracy. In fact, embedded within it, there is an element of weakness that in the long term can produce a series of cracks in the existing structure of domination, that is to say a better balance among the agents actively involved in the democratic process

 

Giovanni Navarria: PhD Candidate, Centre for the Study of Democracy/University of Westminster 100 Park Village East, London NW1 3SR, United Kingdom.


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