A tecnologia aumenta a democracia?
A resposta imediata é: "não". Acho eu que esta seria a resposta intuitiva. Não importa. O ponto é: por que sim ou por que não?
Roger Congleton tem uma boa argumentação a respeito. O artigo está em PDF.
Economic Development and Democracy, Does Industrialization Lead to Universal Suffrage? - Roger D. Congleton - Center for Study of Public Choice - George Mason University
Abstract - Economic development is widely believed to enhance the evolution of democratic institutions. For example, it is well known that economic development often changes the distribution of wealth and education within a society and that associated change in policy interests can lead to new political alignments. However, as demonstrated below, economic development does not necessarily induce major changes in a nation’s suffrage laws.
Changes in the magnitude and distribution of wealth will induce institutional reforms only if they also change the political interests of those controlling the government. This is not necessarily the case, even in parliamentary systems whose members are chosen in competitive elections. Both the median member of parliament and the median person eligible to vote tend to be well served by the existing institutional arrangements.
However, in favorable circumstances industrialization can induce major reforms in suffrage law. One neglected consequence of industrialization is that the cost of organizing political interest groups is reduced by the same technological changes that increase the efficient scale of manufacturing and distribution, while the demand for such organizations are increased.
This paper demonstrates that industrialization can generate major suffrage reform when it empowers the “right” economic and ideological interest groups. The experience of nineteenth century northern Europe is used to illustrate the relevance of the analysis.
A resposta imediata é: "não". Acho eu que esta seria a resposta intuitiva. Não importa. O ponto é: por que sim ou por que não?
Roger Congleton tem uma boa argumentação a respeito. O artigo está em PDF.
Economic Development and Democracy, Does Industrialization Lead to Universal Suffrage? - Roger D. Congleton - Center for Study of Public Choice - George Mason University
Abstract - Economic development is widely believed to enhance the evolution of democratic institutions. For example, it is well known that economic development often changes the distribution of wealth and education within a society and that associated change in policy interests can lead to new political alignments. However, as demonstrated below, economic development does not necessarily induce major changes in a nation’s suffrage laws.
Changes in the magnitude and distribution of wealth will induce institutional reforms only if they also change the political interests of those controlling the government. This is not necessarily the case, even in parliamentary systems whose members are chosen in competitive elections. Both the median member of parliament and the median person eligible to vote tend to be well served by the existing institutional arrangements.
However, in favorable circumstances industrialization can induce major reforms in suffrage law. One neglected consequence of industrialization is that the cost of organizing political interest groups is reduced by the same technological changes that increase the efficient scale of manufacturing and distribution, while the demand for such organizations are increased.
This paper demonstrates that industrialization can generate major suffrage reform when it empowers the “right” economic and ideological interest groups. The experience of nineteenth century northern Europe is used to illustrate the relevance of the analysis.
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