2019 fait suite à une année cauchemardesque pour Facebook, qui a mis en lumière la face sombre du géant technologique de la Silicon Valley. Cette année, c’est aussi une année cruciale pour le continent européen, car année d’élection du Parlement européen, dans un contexte de grande incertitude et de défiance croissante envers les institutions politiques. […]
Digital technologies or information and communication technologies (ICTs) include a wide range of tools, processes and actors to improve the collection, storage, dissemination, and analysis of information. ICTs have these characteristics of being highly invasive and constantly evolving. They therefore have an impact on most of our personal, professional and political activities. Within the Euro […]
2018 aura été une année charnière pour les plateformes de réseaux sociaux, et sera probablement perçue dans la futur comme l’année de la défiance vis-à-vis des technologies numériques. Des scandales à répétition (Cambridge Analytica, campagnes de désinformation multiples), des vols massifs de données, et une cybercriminalité en hausse nous ont amené à questionner notre utilisation […]
At a time when fake news spread widely, social media platforms and governments have a hard time to find new ways to regulate and constrain this (not so new) phenomenon. After the Brazilian election, I was invited by the Swiss TV program “Geopolitis” to talk about this phenomenon and what it means for European democracies. […]
On Sunday 9 December, a collective of more than 120 intellectuals and political leaders from sixteen countries proposed in a Manifesto, published by “Le Monde”, “The Guardian” and other European media outlets, a new architecture for the EU (Piketty, 2018). The signatories intended to demonstrate that Europe, despite its many critics and the populist wave, […]
If the US presidential campaigns of 2008 and 2012 seemed to confirm the conviction that digital tools, including the internet and social networks, empowered civil society organisations and grassroots movements, and thus reinforced democracy, the US Presidential campaign of 2016 highlighted the challenges posed by digital technologies. Internet and digital technologies were first seen as […]
In this blog, I would like to share with you some of my favorite thought-provoking videos about nature. This series is from the non-governmental organisation Conservation International (CI). Their campaign “Nature is speaking” intended to give a “voice” to nature – literally speaking. Reese Witherspoon, Julia Roberts, and Liam Neeson are some of the popular […]
Digital technologies are ubiquitous. From sunrise to sunset, we are immersed in a world where virtual and real intermingle permanently. The decisions we make every day are now heavily influenced by technology. We have gained new skills in terms of access to information. The world is within the reach of a click. Everything is always […]
The 21st century saw the emergence of the social media era that empowered individuals and civil society to interact and collaborate. Information is now shared globally and instantaneously: Twitter replaced newspapers by becoming the first source of information: an event happens in the world…and we all check Twitter and YouTube for more information, and look […]
Recent information revolutions are based on the emergence of new information and communication technologies (ICTs), which encapsulate the converging set of technologies in microelectronics, computing telecommunications and optoelectronics.[1] Previous industrial revolutions were based on technologies that used cheap inputs of energy. According to Castells, new ICTs are based on cheap inputs of information. This shift […]
At the beginning of the generalization of internet, many scholars and policy-makers were techno-optimist: seeing this transformational technology as a promising opportunity to increase public participation in local to global governance mechanisms, improve public institutions efficiency and effectiveness, and bring peoples together by bridging the gap between cultures, languages and territories. Since then, a number […]
This blog post is part of a series of articles exploring potential links between blockchain technologies and international relations. Since many students asked me to explain this new technology, I’ve decided to dive into the Blockchain with the intention to come up with a clear and didactical presentation. This peer-to-peer distributed network is a ledger of […]
Born with the third screen, the Net generation or digital grown ups to quote Don Tapscott, don’t use their mobile phone to call someone but rather to tweet, take a photo and upload it on Instagram, record a video and share it on Snapchat, play an online video game, send instant messages to their group of friends […]
The fourth industrial revolution described by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as the convergence of the physical, digital, and biological worlds, is often portrayed as being a unique opportunity for citizens to engage with public authorities, and sustain economic growth and unprecedented innovations in terms of speed (exponential growth), scope (disrupts almost every industry in […]
According to the OECD, participation[1] comprises of three elements: access to information, consultation and active participation. It is often said that information and communication technologies (ICTs) have increased participation in global governance arrangements by providing global and affordable access to information; offering new possibilities to consult vast number of individuals and stakeholders simultaneously, and enabling […]
Transparency is often considered a prerequisite for democratic accountability, and can be conceptualized as “the extent to which individuals who may be significantly affected by a decision are able to learn about the decision-making process, including its existence, subject matter, structure and current status” (Dingwerth, 2007: 30). [1] Many global institutions offer online information for […]
States’ interdependence, globalization, expansion of scope and authority of international organizations, and the growth of the global civil society have increased concerns about the use of power on the world stage.[1] The way authority is defined and understood is linked to the notion of legitimacy. Contrary to power, an authority claims a right to rule […]
Les Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication (TIC) offrent non seulement de nouvelles opportunités, mais aussi peuvent aussi créer de nouvelles barrières. Les entreprises de communication stratégique, telle Cambridge Analytica, combinant des outils d’exploration, d’analyse des données et de profils en ligne, sont de plus en plus nombreuses à tenter d’influencer les résultats des […]
Thanks to ICTs, individuals and organizations transform a grasp of how the world works into working knowledge. This skill revolution consists of an interplay between technologies, education and experience. These three elements make individuals grow exponentially and enable them to catch the attention of global leaders. [1] Governments, corporations and other collectivities also gained new […]
The most important impact that ICTs may have is in the increasing openness and possibility for mass collaboration and participation, which in turn is expected to gradually change governance models. [1] Thanks to ICTs, openness of governance systems and integration of policy making mechanisms can harness collective intelligence, building on the knowledge, experience, and competence […]
