Information and communication technology challenges to democracy in Asia

Abstract

The unprecedented technological revolution seen in the field of communication and space technology stretches over a very small span of Asian history and the collective memory of ancient civilizations of India and China. The techno-political events in the modem political paradigms, of parliamentary democracy in India and communism in China, are just about half century old. In such a situation, any expectation that information and communication technology would alter or influence recently adopted political systems and worldview needs an in-depth analysis of the social structure and capabilities of information and communication technology.The author had earlier proposed three forms of challenges that information and communication technology can bring to bear on the political paradigms. These were ‘technopositivism’, ‘techno-neutralism’and ‘techno-negativism’. The ‘techno-positivism’… view refers to the opinion of those who believe that satellite-based broadcasting helps political and emotional integration, thereby strengthening democracy. The ‘techno-negativism’ endorses the views of those who think that satellite-based broadcasting in plural civilizations having multiple languages and a ‘world view’, imposes the views of a politically dominant minority over the majority. The third form represents views of those who believe that technology by itself does not create any condition for weakening the democracy; rather the aims and goals of the communicators are directly responsible for strengthening or weakening the democracy. (Agrawal 1993:222, also see Hamelink, 1986).The situation has not substantially changed in the last decade. A large number of scholars have cast futuristic views on the basis of experiential knowledge about the repercussions on individual freedom of speech and expression, and human insights as a result of the all pervasive technological penetration in human society. The fundamental assumption being that information and communication technology willy-nilly will influence the existing political paradigms since information and communication is an essential ingredient in maintenance and perpetuation of clearly held values like democracy.The author has attempted in this paper is to have a synoptic view as to how professionals of communication and information technology have postulated its influence on democracy and the likely challenges it can pose to human freedom, freedom of expression and human rights. This will be followed by a likely scenario and the challenges that it can pose to the world’s largest democracy of a billion people.