Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Democratic Discrepancy In The Age of Information. WikiLeaks and the US on Information Freedom

Mortensen, Jeanette LU (2012) SIMV07 20121
Graduate School
Abstract (Swedish)
The ICT revolution has transformed the space for democratic debate on information freedom. Although democratic actors like the US and WikiLeaks both advocate freedom of information, there are obvious discrepancies amongst ideas of how this basic democratic freedom is implemented in the age of information. These democratic discrepancies are analyzed through the lens of Critical Discourse Analysis, focusing on the case of WikiLeaks’ release ‘Cablegate’ in 2010, to the great concern of the US. The discrepancy of the US’ freedom from WikiLeaks’ publishing activity, and WikiLeaks freedom to publish, is seen through the lens of Isaiah Berlin’s concepts of positive and negative freedom. It is concluded that the logic of the network society poses... (More)
The ICT revolution has transformed the space for democratic debate on information freedom. Although democratic actors like the US and WikiLeaks both advocate freedom of information, there are obvious discrepancies amongst ideas of how this basic democratic freedom is implemented in the age of information. These democratic discrepancies are analyzed through the lens of Critical Discourse Analysis, focusing on the case of WikiLeaks’ release ‘Cablegate’ in 2010, to the great concern of the US. The discrepancy of the US’ freedom from WikiLeaks’ publishing activity, and WikiLeaks freedom to publish, is seen through the lens of Isaiah Berlin’s concepts of positive and negative freedom. It is concluded that the logic of the network society poses the challenge of democratic states’ adaption to the network society’s dialectic between the Web and the Self, as opposed to that of structure and agent. Concurrently, the missing link between globalization and democracy, points to the transformation from interest-based to value-based motivation for political engagement. As the information age’s level of connectivity gives rise to increased clashes of discourse, the purpose of this research is to describe these and thereby clarify challenges of governing the Internet in the 21st Century. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Mortensen, Jeanette LU
supervisor
organization
course
SIMV07 20121
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Democracy, Globalization, Freedom, Information, Transformation.
language
English
id
3044907
date added to LUP
2012-09-04 16:30:29
date last changed
2012-09-04 16:30:29
@misc{3044907,
  abstract     = {{The ICT revolution has transformed the space for democratic debate on information freedom. Although democratic actors like the US and WikiLeaks both advocate freedom of information, there are obvious discrepancies amongst ideas of how this basic democratic freedom is implemented in the age of information. These democratic discrepancies are analyzed through the lens of Critical Discourse Analysis, focusing on the case of WikiLeaks’ release ‘Cablegate’ in 2010, to the great concern of the US. The discrepancy of the US’ freedom from WikiLeaks’ publishing activity, and WikiLeaks freedom to publish, is seen through the lens of Isaiah Berlin’s concepts of positive and negative freedom. It is concluded that the logic of the network society poses the challenge of democratic states’ adaption to the network society’s dialectic between the Web and the Self, as opposed to that of structure and agent. Concurrently, the missing link between globalization and democracy, points to the transformation from interest-based to value-based motivation for political engagement. As the information age’s level of connectivity gives rise to increased clashes of discourse, the purpose of this research is to describe these and thereby clarify challenges of governing the Internet in the 21st Century.}},
  author       = {{Mortensen, Jeanette}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Democratic Discrepancy In The Age of Information. WikiLeaks and the US on Information Freedom}},
  year         = {{2012}},
}