Politics and Technology

Book excerpt: This volume provides a broad-ranging acount of the relationship between politics and technology in the modern world. It shows how political processes and values shape the developmentof technology and, in turn , how new technologies influence the conduct of politics. The core concern of the book is how democratic control can be exercised in all aspects of technological decision- making and how technology can be used to extend demmocracy. Street shows that much publicized 'natural' disasters from the explosions at Chernobyl and Bhopal to the erosion of the ozone layer have politicalas well as technologicalcauses and examines the way in which telecomunications, biotechnology and other technologies are used both to serve and subvert politcal aspirations.