We argue in The Fourth Revolution book that representative democracy is a remnant of the Industrial Age travel limitations and that forms of direct democracy will emerge as a result of the Fourth Revolution.
Some hints of that shift can already be observed. The website AbgeordnetenWatch.de (literally Parliamentary Watch) in Germany is a website that connects citizens and elected representatives. According to David Eaves, a guru of open data, the German site has, since 2004, posed over 140,000 questions from everyday citizens of which 80% been answered by politicians. According to the website itself, in average, the website counts 10.000 Visitors a day and about three million page impressions per month; two thousand questions are asked through the portal of abgeordnetenwatch.de each month and questions and answers are visible to all visitors.
This type of websites will extend and become progressively central to our countries’ governance. Eventually citizen’s questions will be relayed in parliament and to government and answers posted in such forums.
The Fourth Revolution is coming quickly. Old-fashioned politicians beware!
