Description

Dystopian visions forecasting a bleak future for democracy have been in ascendancy since the United States 2016 election’s alleged manipulation of voters by organisations like data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica. Such visions stand in stark contrast to utopian narratives of both the 1990s and early 2010s, which forecasted a 'digital democracy' that would usher in a new dawn of empowerment and emancipation.

This talk seeks to move beyond arguments about whether contemporary democracies have been ‘hijacked’. Instead, Dr Leon Salter see this period of forced reflection as an opportunity to re-focus people's attention on both the shortcomings of liberal representative democracies and the model of digital democracy as it has been previously envisaged. My main line of critique is that digital democracy has previously reinforced the neoliberal model of the isolated individual consumer of political products, which restricts our abilities to see ourselves as part of a larger civic body. Dr Salter will explore what critical theory, indigenous thought, social movements, and some existing platforms can teach others about broadening the subject who ‘does’ digital democracy, thereby incorporating aspects such as relationality and affect.