Today, in Internet, Law, and Politics at Harvard Law School, we’re taking up some counter-arguments to the strong form of the argument that Internet can transform politics. I’m building a short outline of some of the key concerns, here, as I prepare for class. It occurs to me to point out that there’s a wonderful and challenging book out, called Reformatting Politics, that Routledge published in 2006, which has a number of essays that prompt hard thought, two of which are assigned for today (my chapter, much later in the book, is plainly the last of the reasons to read the book!). I am such a total fan of Yochai Benkler’s The Wealth of Networks as the key text in this field, on which I rely very heavily in my own thinking and teaching; and/but I am indebted to Jon Anderson, Jodi Dean, and Geert Lovink, the editors of Reformatting Politics, for presenting a number of counter-points to the Benkler line of reasoning.
JP — good seeing you in DC. I put you on my RSS list and just saw this. You may want to look at the French elections as well — a good resource is http://prospect-magazine.co.uk/blog/franceprofonde/.