The Prospects for Cyberocracy (Revisited)

70 Pages Posted: 15 Jan 2009

See all articles by David Ronfeldt

David Ronfeldt

Independent

Danielle Varda

University of Colorado at Denver - School of Public Affairs

Date Written: December 1, 2008

Abstract

The deepening of the information age will alter the nature of the state so thoroughly that something new emerges: cyberocracy. While it is too early to say precisely what a cyberocracy will look like, the outcomes will include new kinds of democratic, totalitarian, and hybrid governments, along with new kinds of state-society relations. Thus, optimism about the information revolution should be tempered by an anticipation of its potential dark side. This paper reiterates the view of the cyberocracy concept as first stated in 1992, and then offers a postscript for 2008. It speculates that information-age societies will develop new sensory apparatuses, a network-based social sector, new modes of networked governance, and ultimately the cybercratic nexus-state as a successor to the nation-state.

Keywords: information, cyberocracy, sensory, network, governance, nexus-state

Suggested Citation

Ronfeldt, David and Varda, Danielle, The Prospects for Cyberocracy (Revisited) (December 1, 2008). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1325809 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1325809

Danielle Varda

University of Colorado at Denver - School of Public Affairs ( email )

1380 Lawrence Street
Suite 500
Denver, CO 80204
United States

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