The Central Paradox of the Digital Age

Civilizations are mortal. Some rise to meet their challenges, others collapse and disappear into history. Why do some posses the capacity to change, and others not? Jared Diamond warns that the Anthropocentric Age, in which the human species for the first time is the dominant influence on the planet, could end up like the extinct Maya, terminating our civilization's accomplishments if we don't squarely face our ecological challenges. Bruce Mau, like Alvin Toffler, sees hope in the “distributed power” enabled by new technologies. Jared Cohen and Eric Schmidt examine the paradoxes of the digital age which has transformed how we live our lives in every respect.     

The Central Paradox of the New Digital Age

The recent scandal of the National Security Agency (NSA) “Hoovering” up the metadata on US and foreign citizens from Google, Facebook and Yahoo exposes in the full light of day the central paradox of the new digital age: The Internet enables us to know and learn more than ever before, but enables more to be known and learned about us by both snooping governments and monetizing information corporations alike. In this section, Google's Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen discuss this paradox. We also reprint an interview from 2009 with Mike McConnell, a former chief of the National Security Agency and the driving force behind Booz, Allen, Hamilton's digital security operation. Edward Snowden, the systems administrator who blew the whistle, was employed by the NSA as a subcontractor from Booz, Allen, Hamilton.     

ISIL's Execution Videos: Audience Segmentation and Terrorist Communication in the Digital Age

ABSTRACT

This article offers a bottom-up understanding of the media strategy employed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) as it relates to the production and dissemination of its hostage execution videos. Through an empirical analysis of sixty-two videos of executions produced by ISIL in the year following its establishment as the “Islamic State” in 2014, this study examines the videos as a major component of ISIL's media strategy. Through these media products, ISIL seeks to spread a political message aimed at both local and global, ingroup and outgroup consumption through audience segmentation, while striving to influence both local and global audiences through the use and production of graphic violence. This article also discusses the strategy governing the production and release of ISIL's execution videos; how it relies on the global media to transmit its intertwined political and religious agenda in the digital media age.     

技术轴心时代(上)--《后工业社会的来临》1999年版前言

著名社会学家、哈佛大学教授丹尼尔·贝尔的《后工业社会的来临》一书初版于 1 973年 (中译本于 1 997年由新华出版社出版 )。 1 999年出版了一个特别纪念版 ,作者新写了长篇前言。前言总结了自该书第一版以来西方社会的新发展。其中的材料对我们研究西方社会的变化应有助益 ,其观点亦可借鉴。经作者授权译出发表。文章中的一段经作者同意未译出 ,其他原文照译。文中注解除了特别说明者外 ,均为原文所有。译文拟分两期连载。翻译过程中 ,美国土伦大学JamesDerleth教授给了许多帮助 ;《休伦港宣言》介绍由中国社会科学院周穗明教授提供。在此一并致谢。     

The BRICs Come of Global Age

The world is rapidly evolving on many fronts. Brazil, Turkey and other emerging powers are taking their own initiatives and building their own global links outside the old frameworks of the G‐8, the United Nations Security Council and NATO. The “third way” politics of Tony Blair that embraced globalization from the left of center in Britain has given way to the Tory party once again. Just as recovery from the financial crash seemed on the horizon, Europe's sovereign debt crisis has erupted. The historically unprecedented pace and scale of urbanization in China is transforming the politics of the Communist Party. President Lula of Brazil, former US treasury secretary Henry Paulson, Singapore's foreign minister George Yeo and others take stock of these manifold developments.     

Local Democracy in a Digital Age: Lessons for Local Government from the Manchester Congestion Charge Referendum

Local government in England has, in general, struggled with exploiting the much heralded democratic potential of the Internet. Evaluations of the local e-democracy initiatives, funded as part of the New Labour Government's e-government programme, were largely unfavourable. Since this initiative ended usage of the Internet has arguably reached a critical mass opening new opportunities for local policy makers interested in more effectively involving citizens in the local decision-making process. This article illustrates these opportunities by drawing on new empirical evidence of the online political activity associated with the 2008 Manchester Congestion Charge referendum. It also serves to highlight the political challenges facing local government and argues that if the Internet is to be used for strengthening local democracy then local government must become a fit for purpose institution and develop strategies that tackle the online influence of vested economic interests and the problem of enacting local citizenship online.     

The End of the Age of Empire

The article was adapted from a keynote address given at the conference “1989 and Beyond” at the New School for Social Research, New York City, April 2008.     

How To Address Strategic Insecurity In A Turbulent Age

The ideal geopolitical response to the crisis of global power is a trilateral connection between the United States, China and Russia.     

For A New Bipolarity: China and Russia vs. America

A great historical transition is underway from American‐led Globalization 1.0 to Globalization 2.0—the interdependence of plural identities where no one power or alliance of powers dominates. The G‐20 is floundering as the immediate global financial crisis has receded. The United Nations and the old Bretton Woods institutions—the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO—have lost their vigor and are struggling to adjust to the global powershift with the rise of the emerging economies. While Europe is paralyzed as the historic project of integration stalls, the world's two largest economies—the United States and China—are as yet unable to figure out how to share power. The danger now is that the geopolitical vacuum will invite assertions of national self‐interest that will unravel the rules‐based order that enabled stability and prosperity over recent decades. America's leading geopolitical strategist, China's most outspoken strategic thinker and one of Asia's leading global thinkers from Singapore offer their reflections on this state of affairs.     

信息时代与社会主义的未来

信息时代来临之际的苏联解体和美国超强,右翼认为历史终结于资本主义,左翼则寄望于信息共产主义.信息时代的社会主义全球革命,战略重点在发达西方国家,变革手段倚重于新科技革命.信息时代社会主义的未来取决于:西方如何在信息化中实现社会变革,中国如何在信息化中实现社会发展.两者的汇流将开辟信息时代全球社会主义的新境界.