The Information Society and Democratic Process

The Information Society and Democratic Process: A Take on the French Elections

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This lecture was given by Véronique Kleck at the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard University on April 10, 2007, two weeks before the first round of the 2007 French presidential elections.

A podcast of the event is available here.

Some Main Points of the Lecture

Putting the French Elections of 2007 into Context

• In the past five years, the French electorate has faced three main crises that have had an important impact on French society in general:
  • The success of Jean-Marie Le Pen in the first turn of the 2002 presidential elections
  • Saying "No" to Europe: rejecting the European constitution in the 2005 referendum
  • A young population with no future in France, problems with joblessness --exemplified by the riots and widespread civil unrest that took place in late 2005
• 53% of French people believe that their institutional system does not work
• Concerns regarding joblessness
• Uncertainty: the number of people still unsure two weeks before the elections had never been higher
• Traditional media was challenged by online material

Uses of Information Technology in the Political Field

• A new form of democracy is emerging, a more participatory one
  • Information technology makes a big evolution possible, but it is not clear yet whether the results will be good or bad
  • People can be part of the process anywhere at anytime
  • Some people imagine a seamless democracy with participation on all levels of policy- and decision-making
• Digital Divide: we see a big divide between political representatives and rest of the population
  • Two groups of people:
    • Those who have the power (political representatives, government)
    • Those who do not have the power but who are active in the network (activists, social movements, journalists)
      • Kleck's book looks at the influence of this second group
  • The main problem is that the digital gap between these two groups of people --elected representatives and citizens-- becomes a cultural gap.
    • Citizens using the network value sharing and cooperation --but the elected representatives are not familiar with these uses
    • When you look at use by elected representatives, they tend to engage primarily in traditional political communications. A few people have websites and even fewer have blogs, but even within this minority of political users, they generally communicate regarding themselves and do not use the network to engage in dialogue or connect with/link to others.
    • Kleck asserts that American politicians interact somewhat more with users, but that in France the cultural divide prevents this.
  • Governments are gradually using information technology more in France as well as in Italy, the UK, and elsewhere.
  • Information technology encompasses more than just what is on-line. In places such as Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, text-messaging and mobile phones have had a significant impact.