Author Archives: Thomas Leif Olsen

This paper argues that a ‘digital-political evolution’ should not base itself on what politicians can offer their voters, but on what voters can offer their politicians – i.e. their vote. Only then will peoples’ concerns gain priority over those of the politicians. One may argue that there is nothing new in this, but given that our electoral systems are dominated by the preferences of the politicians’ political parties – rather than those of the voters¹ – any democratic evolution ought to start by changing the conditions under which the vote itself is given to the politician, and/or his/her party. In other words, the objective of the evolution is a different ‘political contract’ between the electorate and those seeking election. This is therefore first and foremost a matter of a democratic evolution – not of a digital revolution – although the digital revolution constitutes this process’ intellectual and technical backdrop. Continue reading →