Disruptive Power: The Crisis of the State in the Digital Age

Describing each new Internet technology, application or even start-up as "disruptive" has become so commonplace it now almost seems beyond cliché. But Owen (digital media & global affairs, Univ. British Columbia) is not interested in the economic values of the latest web application. Rather the author argues that today's digital technologies have not only changed the way we communicate with one another around the world, but they have also dramatically shifted the balance of power among citizens and modern nation states. While this shift has allowed for increased transparency and for ordinary people to organize across geographical distances, it has also radically destabilized the power and control of the state. In chapters that address everything from money and political dissent to journalism, NGOs, and diplomacy, Owen shows both the empowering possibilities of digital technologies as well as the possible dystopian future of states without geographic, economic, or political boundaries.