The story of how the UK Parliament came to use the Internet from the 1960s onwards has never been told. Electrified Democracy places the impact of technology on parliamentary workings in its longer term historical context. The author identifies repeating patterns of perception and analysis, and cultural tendencies in the perception of inventions dating back over centuries that have reasserted themselves in connection with the parliamentary response to networked computers. He uncovers evidence and makes new connections, while situating all this within the wider global debates on connections between communication and democracy in the age of the Internet, constitutional law and history, and 'law and technology'. This book will be of interest to a wide readership including policy makers, researchers, and all those interested in contemporary controversies about the role of the Internet in modern societies.

An examination, in historical context, of the approach the UK Parliament has taken towards the Internet, and its wider implications.

Shows that the provision of seemingly universal public goods is shaped by electoral priorities.

"Private money, public good, and the original fight for control in America's energy industry. Private corporations administered electrical power in the United States until 1932. FDR's Rural Electrification Program changed that, using public money to extend the country's energy grid to 97 percent of rural communities within two decades. In doing so, the program also ushered in a new kind of public industry-the democratically managed cooperative-that has persisted as an alternative to private ownership ever since. Democracy in Power traces the rise of publicly owned and controlled utilities in the twentieth-century electrification of America. Drawing on diverse primary sources, Sandeep Vaheesan shows that the path to accountability in the American power sector was beset not only by bureaucratic challenges, but by public and private actors determined to maintain a status quo of privatization. In detailing how American energy transitioned from largely-private to sometimes-public, Vaheesan offers a blueprint of not only how US alternative energies may proceed in coming decades, but also the false narratives and missteps that will accompany it. Democracy in Power is at once an essential history and a deeply relevant accounting of traps we've fallen for before"--

Explains how politicians and citizens can use technology to enhance American democracy.

This handbook offers a comprehensive transdisciplinary examination of the research and practices that constitute the emerging research agenda in energy democracy. With protests over fossil fuels and controversies over nuclear and renewable energy technologies, democratic ideals have contributed to an emerging social movement. Energy democracy captures this movement and addresses the issues of energy access, ownership, and participation at a time when there are expanding social, political, environmental, and economic demands on energy systems. This volume defines energy democracy as both a social movement and an academic area of study and examines it through a social science and humanities lens, explaining key concepts and reflecting state-of-the-art research. The collection is comprised of six parts: 1 Scalar Dimensions of Power and Governance in Energy Democracy 2 Discourses of Energy Democracy 3 Grassroots and Critical Modes of Action 4 Democratic and Participatory Principles 5 Energy Resource Tensions 6 Energy Democracies in Practice The vision of this handbook is explicitly transdisciplinary and global, including contributions from interdisciplinary international scholars and practitioners. The Routledge Handbook of Energy Democracy will be the premier source for all students and researchers interested in the field of energy, including policy, politics, transitions, access, justice, and public participation.

The near-unanimous consensus among climate scientists is that the massive burning of gas, oil, and coal is having cataclysmic impacts on our atmosphere and climate. These climate and environmental impacts are particularly magnified and debilitating for low-income communities and communities of color. Energy democracy tenders a response and joins the environmental and climate movement with broader movements for social and economic change in this country and around the world. Energy Democracy brings together racial, cultural, and generational perspectives to show what an alternative, democratized energy future can look like. The book will inspire others to take up the struggle to build the energy democracy movement.