Source: Ross Mayfield's Weblog; 4/2/2003; 8:48:35 AM
Second Superpower.
James F. Moore identifies Emergent Democracy as the Second Superpower.
...Thus the new superpower demonstrates a new form of “emergent democracy” that differs from the participative democracy of the US government. Where political participation in the United States is exercised mainly through rare exercises of voting, participation in the second superpower movement occurs continuously through participation in a variety of web-enabled initiatives. And where deliberation in the first superpower is done primarily by a few elected or appointed officials, deliberation in the second superpower is done by each individual—making sense of events, communicating with others, and deciding whether and how to join in community actions. Finally, where participation in democracy in the first superpower feels remote to most citizens, the emergent democracy of the second superpower is alive with touching and being touched by each other, as the community works to create wisdom and to take action...
Although his paper lacks attribution, he makes a significant contribution by stressing the need for Emergent Democracy to co-exist with existing political institutions as symbiots in an ecosystem. What better balance and check for a government than its own citizens.
[thanks to Kevin Marks for the link] [Ross Mayfield's Weblog]
10:18:44 AM 
|
