Rise of the Digital Technocracy
Global Power and Local Resistance in a Post-Democratic World
Will be published approx. on 23. July 2026
Book
Hardback
292 pages
978-1-0353-9042-7 (ISBN)
Description
This illuminating book explores the increasing super-concentration of wealth among select individuals and their networks alongside the growing trend towards technocratic surveillance in contemporary democracies. It suggests that tech conglomerates are occupied not only with making money at unprecedented levels, but also with using it to shape political, social and cultural processes according to their preferred ideologies.
Contributing authors address the timely themes of Net Zero, smart cities and the transformative influence of AI to build an analysis of the current path to digital technocracy. They adopt an interdisciplinary approach to investigate the emergence of a concentrated global economic elite and examine key questions pertaining to manifestations of technologically enhanced population management strategies. Incorporating national case studies across China, Iran, the USA and elsewhere, Rise of the Digital Technocracy evaluates how the digitally engendered fear and suspicion embedded in the deployment of evolving technological tools are used as means of undermining and assuming increasing control of political systems.
Innovative in its inter-connected analysis of global elites and technocracies, this book is essential reading for scholars and students of sociology, social policy, political theory and human-oriented data science. Professionals in bureaucracies, think-tanks and policy making will also benefit from its theoretical and practical insights.
Contributing authors address the timely themes of Net Zero, smart cities and the transformative influence of AI to build an analysis of the current path to digital technocracy. They adopt an interdisciplinary approach to investigate the emergence of a concentrated global economic elite and examine key questions pertaining to manifestations of technologically enhanced population management strategies. Incorporating national case studies across China, Iran, the USA and elsewhere, Rise of the Digital Technocracy evaluates how the digitally engendered fear and suspicion embedded in the deployment of evolving technological tools are used as means of undermining and assuming increasing control of political systems.
Innovative in its inter-connected analysis of global elites and technocracies, this book is essential reading for scholars and students of sociology, social policy, political theory and human-oriented data science. Professionals in bureaucracies, think-tanks and policy making will also benefit from its theoretical and practical insights.
Reviews / Votes
'This book connects the dots to reveal a tectonic shift in the basic character of government in the West, and a deepening crisis of legitimacy. Descriptors such as "liberal" and "democratic" which have underpinned the West's self-understanding for centuries begin to look obsolete, however much they continue to be used as terms of mystification. Consider this book like a meteorologist's report on the gathering clouds of techno-totalitarianism.' -- Matthew Crawford, University of Virginia, USA 'When numerous signs have pointed to controlled demolitions of Western civilization and the academy, along comes a crucial book signaling genuine scholarly efforts to regain what's been lost to systems of dispossession. Contributors to this excellent book treat the many inversions of logic and law to bring awakening.' -- Daniel Broudy, Okinawa Christian University, JapanMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cheltenham
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-0353-9042-7 (9781035390427)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Edited by Garry Robson and Lukasz Wordliczek, Institute of American Studies and Polish Diaspora, Jagiellonian University, Poland
Content
Contents
Introduction: rise of the digital technocracy - global power and local
resistance in a post-democratic world 1
Garry Robson and Lukasz Wordliczek
1 The rise of the digital technocracy: what's in a name? 19
Lukasz Wordliczek
PART I THE ROAD TO THE DIGITAL TECHNOCRACY
2 Aldous Huxley's blueprint for a brave new aristocracy: a new
historicist analysis of the World Economic Forum and the
technocratic great reset of the fourth industrial revolution 47
John Klyczek
3 Fear of a "scientific-technological elite": from Eisenhower's to
Biden's farewell addresses - a useful category or obfuscating
rhetorical device? 88
Michael Schaefer
4 From technocracy to technocratic politics: a new conceptual
model for analysing the relation between technoscience and
politics 110
Francesco Antonelli
5 Digitization and AI in the transformation of power relations 122
Jobst Landgrebe
6 The net zero energy transition: opening the door to digital
technocracy? 141
Cristina E. Parau
PART II NATIONAL CASE STUDIES
7 Ahmadinejad's populism: revolt against the "depoliticization
of technocracy" or the "return of politics" 167
Alireza Samiee Esfahani
8 Digital town squares: place as an analytical category for
studying contemporary protests 184
Alesia Rudnik
9 Cognitive warfare at the heart of China's strategy to
undermine the West 201
Tanguy Struye de Swielande, Kimberly Orinx and Simon Peiffer
10 Affect and the smart city: fear, suspicion and technology in
the making of urban futures 220
Eveleen Kaur Sidana
11 Building the 'nerd reich'? The MAGA technocrats and the
digital hive 242
Garry Robson
Introduction: rise of the digital technocracy - global power and local
resistance in a post-democratic world 1
Garry Robson and Lukasz Wordliczek
1 The rise of the digital technocracy: what's in a name? 19
Lukasz Wordliczek
PART I THE ROAD TO THE DIGITAL TECHNOCRACY
2 Aldous Huxley's blueprint for a brave new aristocracy: a new
historicist analysis of the World Economic Forum and the
technocratic great reset of the fourth industrial revolution 47
John Klyczek
3 Fear of a "scientific-technological elite": from Eisenhower's to
Biden's farewell addresses - a useful category or obfuscating
rhetorical device? 88
Michael Schaefer
4 From technocracy to technocratic politics: a new conceptual
model for analysing the relation between technoscience and
politics 110
Francesco Antonelli
5 Digitization and AI in the transformation of power relations 122
Jobst Landgrebe
6 The net zero energy transition: opening the door to digital
technocracy? 141
Cristina E. Parau
PART II NATIONAL CASE STUDIES
7 Ahmadinejad's populism: revolt against the "depoliticization
of technocracy" or the "return of politics" 167
Alireza Samiee Esfahani
8 Digital town squares: place as an analytical category for
studying contemporary protests 184
Alesia Rudnik
9 Cognitive warfare at the heart of China's strategy to
undermine the West 201
Tanguy Struye de Swielande, Kimberly Orinx and Simon Peiffer
10 Affect and the smart city: fear, suspicion and technology in
the making of urban futures 220
Eveleen Kaur Sidana
11 Building the 'nerd reich'? The MAGA technocrats and the
digital hive 242
Garry Robson