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Drawing on the new physics as the scientific foundation of transformational politics, Becker and Slaton write compellingly about teledemocracy, social energy, and democratic quanta. They outline their quantum political theory in rich detail, demonstrating how we have entered a phase of highly charged, erratic, and sometimes self-contradictory packets of social political energy that appears to occur with a rough regularity but with differing levels of velocity and force.
Becker and Slaton explore the current state and future of televoting, electronic town meetings, and other initiatives designed to put the public back into public affairs. This book will prove to be a fascinating read for scholars, students, researchers, and policymakers interested in new political paradigms, politics, and public administration.
List of contents
Introduction
Introduction to the New Physics and New Democratic ParadigmThe Emergence and Components of the New Democratic Paradigm: Historical Surges and Visions of the Future
The New Physics as the Scientific Foundation for the New Democratic Paradigm
Synergizing Teledemocracy: Scientific Deliberative Polling + Electronic Town Meetings + the Internet = Critical MassEmpowering Citizens by Televoting: Experiments in Scientific Deliberative Polling
The Untapped Potential of Interactive TV Town Meetings and Public Hearings
The First Step Toward Synergy: Collaborative Designs for Advanced, Genuine Electronic Town Meetings
Beyond ETMs: Synergizing Future Teledemocracies via Computers
The New Democratic Paradigm in the 21st CenturyThe Future of Teledemocracy: Entering the Post-Hierarchical Age
Bibliography
Index
About the author
TED BECKER is Professor of Political Science at Auburn University. The author of eleven earlier books, including
Quantum Politics (Praeger, 1991), he is also a political activist, trying to link teledemocracy, direct democracy, and environmental sustainability.
CHRISTA DARYL SLATON is Director of the Masters in Public Administration program and Professor of Political Science at Auburn University. Among her earlier publications is
Televote: Expanding Citizen Participation in the Quantum Age (Praeger, 1991).
