Three cheers for the surveillance society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Three cheers for the surveillance society - Essay Example According to Brin, surveillance society is characterized by immense and irreversible developments in technology that increasingly enables sophisticated surveillance. Brin sees the movement toward the surveillance society as an inevitable process driven by the constant advancement of technology. Hence, the image of technological development as an inexorably rising tide. The mainstay of Brin's argument on surveillance society is the technological environment that makes the emergence of a surveillance society not only a concrete possibility but also a reality in the making. Most importantly, there is nothing inevitable with human societies. Although, the technological developments and the consequent emergence of surveillance society at present may seen as an irreversible phenomenon, there is no guarantee that alternate forms of society cannot emerge. Both culture and politics have tremendous influence in bringing about such profound changes, a fact that Brin has not reflected upon. The problem is that Brin, in his rush to reach the conclusion of "surveillance society", has been overwhelmed by the recent developments in technology that trapped him in a kind of crass technological determinism whereas he identifies technological development as the moving force of human history.

Analysis of Global Governance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Analysis of Global Governance - Essay Example On the other hand, it has been proved that the decisions of governments on crucial political, social and economic issues may present similarities in countries internationally – a phenomenon observed especially in countries with common social or cultural characteristics. In this way, local political choices may influence the forms of international policies – a trend well developed in areas such as security and governance. The current paper focuses on the critical examination and comparison of two studies focusing on global governance: the study of Held & McGrew (2002) and that of Wilkinson & Hughes (2002); both of these studies refer to the criteria, the characteristics and the implications of global governance. The interpretation of global governance – as given by the above writers – is critically discussed by referring to the actual political and social conditions in the international community. Moreover, the examination of their work led to the assumptio n that global governance can have a long-term impact on various aspects of international political and social framework. In this study, an emphasis is given on the implications of global governance for security – as these implications can be identified in the work of Held et al. (2002) and Wilkinson et al. (2002). It is concluded that the above studies indicate a relationship between global governance and security; however, the level at which this relationship is developed is depended on the grade of acceptance of the relevant schemes by the authorities of each country – which are asked to adopt a specific global governance or security scheme. In order to evaluate the potential differences in the interpretation of global governance as developed by Held et al. (2002) and Wilkinson et al. (2002), it would be necessary to refer primarily to the criteria on which these two studies have been based.  Ã‚