Mytko Antonina, Candidate of Political Sciences, Assoc. Prof.
Lesya Ukrainka Eastern European National University, Ukraine
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The feature of today's world is that the conditions for the existence and development of the global information space, the incredible richness of information and changes require an individual to quickly receive, examine, analyze, and use plenty of information. Therefore, information democracy has gained a global dimension. Open access to global information creates opportunities for exchange of ideas between citizens internationally. National public spheres are now included in the global information environment and create a new global range of the public sphere. This is very important in today's environment. After all, along with the fact that much of the population welcomes access to global information and globalization with fears that globalization brings impoverishment of national cultures and leads to an increased exposure of economically strong national structures, especially large multinationals and global monopoly, and their impact on the society. The article focuses on the global nature of information democracy, the main areas it covers, i.e. economy, social sphere, the value system. The positive aspects of globalization are analyzed. The author considered the adverse effects an excessive admiration of globalization may result in. The study includes the views of different scholars on globalization and highlights the prospects of information democracy. Keywords: globalization, information and communication flow, information, economy, social sphere, values, democracy. |
One of the major characteristics of the present stage of historical development is globalization, which covered all areas of our lives. There is an irreversible progressive movement towards a single global world. One may state that the modern cultural and civilizational system is undergoing radical change in its history, the new “axial time”. As a result, a new social and cultural reality is being formed in which humanity appeared on the threshold of the third millennium; this fact proves the relevance of the studied subject.
Analysis of the recent research
Modern research of globalization covers a large range of issues to be studied by specialists of different fields. Taking into account the task goal of this study, we analyzed scientific publications of the next professionals, A. Bard, J. Zoderkvist, L. Belova, E. Vartanova, D. Geld, J. Zasurskiy, M. Golden, A. Carmin, G. Casumova, E. Klinova, A. Keskinen, R. Lucas, C. Lezhun,H.-P. Martin, H. Schumann, V. Mironov, M. Price, D. Held, A. Shevchenko.
Methods
To attain these objectives, the following methods were used: analysis and research of the relevant literature – the works of outstanding domestic and foreign scholars, periodic and thematic press. An important method was the analysis and synthesis of the processed information, developing one’s own opinions and assumptions, the comparative method, historical, chronological, critical and literary methods.
The purpose of the article is to analyze the global nature of information democracy.
All the processes of globalization and the effects of these processes occur in a specific –social and cultural – space. Globalization is a characteristic of the modern stage of the development of society, which is currently experiencing active social and cultural transformation. Despite the difference in approaches to understanding globalization, it can be interpreted as a process that embodies the transformation of the spatial organization of social relations and interactions generated by intercontinental or interregional flows and the structure of activities, interactions and displays of power (Held, 2004, p. 19; Semenov, 2010, p. 130).
According to the Baku State University scientist G.Casumova, globalization is a complex system of integration ties and relations in the spheres of economy, policy, information technology, etc., that is the essence of globalization, including cultural mechanisms that maintain balance between diversity and homogeneity of the world (Casumova, 2011, p. 87).
The current stage of social development is usually described as the information society. According to the definition of A.Carmin, information society is "the result of the combination of two processes: on the one hand, the development of post-industrial society, on the other hand, the globalization process, during which the community asserts itself in general planetary scale" (Carmin, 2006, p. 52). The new information environment brought a stream of the deepest transformations of the world culture. The world today is the information and communicative space, which is developing dynamically. Analyzing the current global information space, H.-P. Martin and X. Schumann compare it with the “global trap” (which is prepared for the modern post-industrial civilization) and an avalanche that sweeps away everything on its path (Martin and Schumann, 2001).
The information theorists of globalization, according to Anglo-American media researcher M. Price, have not formed a unified picture of the “perfect global information republic” yet. One reason is the reluctance of nations and nationalities to part with the ideas of national states as a form of political and economic solidarity, to refuse recognition of “common destiny”, “collective identity”, the symbolic network of common beliefs, values and rules” (Price, 2004). The information model based on the specific properties of information significantly narrows the possibilities of the state to exercise its control that regulates the function (Shevchenko 2005, p. 96).
A characteristic feature of the modern communication space caused by high level of technology that significantly affects the shape and types of social communication is designing the new virtual reality. The creation of virtual reality and its further development as one of the forms of the human life of the Information Society made a significant adjustment in the formation and operation of new mechanisms of cultural development of the society (Casumova, 2011, p. 90).
Recently the power of mass media technology that is constantly being improved and updated has increased many times. Exponentially growing, the excess information ‘falls on the consumer’ that A. Gore, a prominent figure in the Democratic Party of the United States, called ‘exformation’. The system works online and affects the views, needs, tastes, and – as a result, human values. Describing the crisis of “overproduction of information”, A. Gore points out that "we are what we use." In the end, “the mankind is faced with a crisis, which it created; it is ‘drowning in the sea of information’. We have created such a huge number of statistics, formulas, images, documents and declarations that we are not able to cope with it. And rather than to seek new ways of thinking and learning what has already been established, we still continue to produce new information increasingly” (Inozemtsev, 1999, pp. 566–567).
Information dominance, according to experts on the Social Development, identifies six trends of contemporary globalization: the spread of liberal democracy, the predominance of the market forces in economy, the transformation of production systems and labor market, the speed of technological renovation, a revolution in media destruction ideology needs. In this case, the basis of civilization, resulting in the modern era, is not an economic, national or social model, but information (Shevchenko, 2005).
In the recent decades, the democratization processes have been affected by the development of information that causes the formation of a new information and communication environment in the political sphere. In today's information society the transformation of civil representation of interests has taken place; the result is the transformation in communications backbone elements of democracy into an instrument of formation and self-presentation. This, in turn, entails a further virtualization of political space, transfer of policies and functions carried out by it from the sphere of real life into the region of “networked world” of the Internet.
The reality of the current political life in most countries leads to a rapid development of the network (or computer-mediated) communication, on the one hand, and on the other – it is a deterministic process of development. The contemporary communication network has a unique attribute feature – the system of communication based on a quick and effective feedback (Zolotych, 2010).
Today the fate of democracy is put under great doubt, as an urgent task of political science is redefining the meaning and place of democratic politics in order to avoid the contradictions of democracy and democratic transition. “If rethinking democracy in terms of the relationship of state and society will be successful, democratic theory and practice will take on a new meaning”, said D. Geld (Geld, 2008).
The development of a new meaning of democracy must go through the analysis of the impact of global confidence in the maintenance of democratic associations, through consideration of the mutual penetration of national and transnational. D. Geld proposes to define the meaning of democracy “in the context of the changing mix of the local, national, regional and global” (Geld, 2008).
In principle, democracy should be seen as a process of learning that lasts a lifetime, during which you can find many characteristics of the phases of development. There is no single correct way of democracy in society. Communities must find alternative ways to implement democratic way of decision making. The current representative democracy can be transformed into a model that will have the characteristics and elements of direct democracy.
According to some scientists concerned with the development of democracy and civil society, particularly K. Slayton, T. Becker, B. Barber, this process may be an intermediate phase of the development. New future of democracy, using information and communication technology and information networks to ensure an equivalent level of information and knowledge for all citizens, will present a hybrid of different strategies. Global scale involvement in information network will create a new unprecedented level of communication between peoples and cultures (Klinova, 2002, p. 90).
As a result, the spread of new communication technologies generated new types of relationships between people, new ways of communication that differ from traditional forms. In particular, network virtual space as a value-semantic field of modern information culture no longer provides a dialogue in its classical sense, and direct communication is replaced by its modern forms. The time comes when online interaction dominates. The authors of the book “NETokratos” (“NETократия”) believe that “the rule of interactivity as the main attribute of information exchange will lead to a complete change of the foundations of the established procedure, or, speaking the language of science, to change the paradigm of existence” (Bard, 2004, p. 11). The question is what will be the vector of paradigm shift existence? However, there is no specific response to the question yet, because the reality is much richer and more unpredictable than any prediction based on theoretical generalization of the ongoing processes, such as globalization.
We stress that the impact of globalization on human spiritual values is very significant for its socio-cultural consequences. Based on the understanding of globalization as a quest to preserve the diversity of cultures while achieving civilization synthesis, this process is impossible without the formation of a new paradigm of culture, which expresses the current trends in the international community. Thus, if we accept the idea of a positive globalization of the humanity, so we must be prepared for the formation of a new paradigm of culture with qualitatively different system of values. Cultural values have changed throughout history. In principle, it is an inevitable and objective process, reflecting the dynamics of the system of culture. But at different stages of social and cultural development this process was different. The current stage has its own specifics, i.e. never before the change of cultural values has occurred so fast as in the modern society. The researchers called globalization the reason for these processes that changed the communicative situation in the world. The creation of the global communication space (Mironov, p. 156) has changed the mechanism of the formation of new cultural values and their rate of entry into a hierarchical structure of value systems.
Thus, a significant factor in the transformation of the socio-cultural reality is globalization when under the influence of the internal and external factors the social and cultural space is changing. With the change in the content of the socio-cultural space in which human activity takes place the ways of learning the world get different as well. New information technologies structure, the social interactions of people in a specific also affect the nature of their interpersonal relationships. In addition, they influence the cognitive structure and, as a result, the system of values. In modern reality not only new communications and information forms are created, but a new type of business communication.
Doctor of Philology, president of the Faculty of Journalism of M.V.Lomonosov Moscow State University professor J.Zasurskiy believes that in the XXI century a new impetus to the development of information society enables a rapid penetration of mobile telephony and the Internet. 61% of the inhabitants of the Earth use cell phones, 23% are connected to the Internet. All over the world the number of users of new information and communication technologies is growing. Filed by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in 2002, the number of Internet connections has increased over the decade from 11 to 23% of all inhabitants of the globe. The number of users of fixed telephone lines has been growing slowly – one billion in 2002 to one billion two hundred seventy million in 2008, the most significant was the growth of mobile communications sector – more than four times. The main sector growth is Asia, Latin America, Oceania and Africa (Zasurskiy, 2009).
Ts.Lezhun draws the attention of scientists that in most studies the overall impact of globalization on the law of the media content of national media systems is that the initial phase of globalization is usually characterized by the import of foreign media products, and then adjusts to the taste of the local population while maintaining the import of foreign media products starts the second stage, when it comes to import formats and creative adaptation. The next stage also appears to promote their media products on the global information market (Lezhun, 2010, p. 151).
Many studies show that due to a language and close cultures national media content gets more attractive for local people. However, globalizators (exporters) are usually concerned about how to penetrate the local markets and quickly make a profit. Therefore, in practice, localization is the main strategy to adopt transnational companies to achieve this goal. So, in time the import of media products remains the same, but the strategies of adaptation format begin to actively develop (Lezhun, 2010, p. 152).
Globalization, the arrival of foreign media corporations on national markets did not bring only foreign media products and capital, but international management experience, standards of professional culture (Lezhun, 2010, p. 157). Indeed, today we can see the typical manifestations of professional standards of Western journalism. They are the division of opinions and facts, objectification, inverted pyramid and the western style of the text. It means the adaption of Western standards of journalism culture.
Due to the rapid development of ICT one the features of globalization was the loss of information by States or any other local institutions of national independence, the information that was part of political sovereignty in the traditional nation-states (Vartanova, 2005). Thus, in the information area, as Monroe points out “globalization actually leads to the fact that the state gradually loses its ability to control the direction and content of information flows. The fact that globalization eliminates power capabilities impede penetration and spread of unwanted information” (Price, 2004, p. 39). However, due to the fact that cultural products will always be carriers of ideology, attitude and values, many countries have developed their own national media policy. In general terms it is manifested in two ways, firstly, the restriction of foreign media products and foreign investment, and secondly, the increase of the competitiveness of the domestic media industry (Lezhun, 2010, p. 159).
The global nature of information democracy influences the economic sphere. The beginning of the modern business cycle associated with the growing “wave” as a result of such innovations as the latest means of communications, digital networks, computer programs, etc. These innovations provide a major requirement of modern innovation development, that is the formation of a stable complex of relationships between the system participants – companies, universities and public research institutions. This fully integrated into all business processes a stable complex of relationships that provides a fast and unimpeded flow of information and knowledge as the most important economic resource, is one manifestation of the essence of the Information Society (IS), formed by a powerful public-private partnership effort in most developed countries (Belova, 2010, p. 52).
Competitive advantages at the global level are divided into traditional and institutional. The traditional international competitive advantages of global concern are a good hard and soft infrastructure, promoting technological development, a stable and relatively favorable institutional environment, a high level of education and cultural diversity, development of cost effective computer and communications technologies, etc. These competitive characteristics of the country's information society were stored during the historical periodal ways adhering to the principle of continuity of historical development. The most important global comparative advantage for business in these countries is built on the basis of the above competitive advantages of the long-term profitability (Belova, 2010, p. 58). It is the basis of systematic evaluations of comparative international competitiveness (Global Competitiveness Report), which is composed by Lausanne Centre for Competitiveness and in recent years – by the World Economic Forum (Schwab, 2012).
New internet working nodes of the global economy demonstrate the need of not just new qualified personnel, but of those who have the creative potential. Receptiveness to new knowledge and new technology becomes the primary requirement for labor. It allows to "capture" whole sectors of the global market. The experience of the United States shows that the compliance with these standards offers the guaranteed income that is significantly higher than the average one. In today's competitive environment there may be not only highly educated, but also a highly paid workforce. Otherwise there will be a situation when the use of highly creative work on low-paid jobs will slower economic development (Lucas, 1988; Mankiw et al., 1992; Romer, 1996). Assistant Professor of Economics in foreign countries and foreign economic relations of M.V.Lomonosov Moscow State University L.Belova said that the processes of the international movement of the economically active population show that performance “flows out” from industrialized countries to the countries of the information society, as there is more workforce; but as a result of increased competition, this highly skilled and competitive workforce agrees to work for a less and less pay (Belova, 2010, p. 59). This process is contrary to the theory of human capital and is the paradox of the knowledge economy; and it could lead the global economy to even more significant, in our view, shocks than the systemic crisis of our time.
Now there is a growing need for advanced tools and technologies of information processing and in expanding information and communication space. The formation of civil society assumes domination of democratic beliefs, reaching as much social and political interaction as possible between social groups of citizens, society and the state in general. Thus, currently a new factor plays a major role in achieving competitive advantage. This is the flow of knowledge and information, the identification of the specific type of competitive advantage caused by the flow of knowledge and information. All of these will enable structures at the appropriate level of management to set priorities and focus on an adequate combination of key factors of competitive advantage for innovation development – intellectual capital. Information globalization should be seen as a multidimensional process that requires understanding of not only its technological options, but first of all new models of social development, the focus of which should be the main universal democratic values.
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