Will Democracy Survive the Digital Revolution?

A new series of seminars on the effect of the Digital Revolution on International Relations

Guests

Carl Miller, Research Director, Centre for the Analysis of Social Media (CASM), Demos

Ralph Schroeder, Professor, Senior Research Fellow, Oxford Internet Institute

Chaired by

Mark Leonard, Co-Founder and Director, ECFR

International Relations in the Digital Age is a new series launched by ECFR in 2018 to examine how the digital revolution is redefining international relations. The series will explore how technological changes will affect democracy, economics, identity and war, as well as how DR will change deterrence, international regimes, state and non-state actors.

The digital revolution is just taking off. In the words of Russian President Vladimir Putin “whoever becomes the leader in the sphere [of artificial intelligence] will become the ruler of the world”. In China, the regime is constructing a digital dictatorship. In Europe, U.S. tech companies’ secret algorithms will increasingly determine how we perceive the world. Will this all lead to a long-term convergence of the free and autocratic worlds? Will political choices we think we are making be determined by algorithms and platforms controlled by unaccountable elites? Can democracy survive in this age?

Carl Miller (@carljackmiller) is the Research Director at Centre for the Analysis of Social Media (CASM) and Demos.  

Ralph Schroeder (@ralphschroeder) is a Senior Research Fellow at Oxford Internet Institute.

Mark Leonard (@markhleonard) is Co-Founder and Director at ECFR.