Creative Democracy and the Internet by Will Foreman focuses on constructive proposals for improving the democratic process.
Democratic systems can be healthier and more creative in their adaptations to the rapidly changing world, Dr. Foreman asserts, if they eliminate the political power of wealthy special interests and incorporate input from a greater variety of sources. The Internet, he says, marks the birth of a new stage in the evolution toward a creatively democratic world-system. Foremanıs provocative analysis of the deep structure of the Internet and of political power leads to a new strategy for coping with the crises projected to occur in the first half of the 21st century.
In this, the fourth book in his series On Democracy In Time, two pathways of democratic reform are described. The first relies on a dramatically new and comprehensive program for reforming existing democracies; the second on creating new democracies that would utilize a ³universal model.² Both strategies emphasize nonviolent, democratically-mediated transformations.
Chapters one through three address the phenomenal nature of the Internet and its potential effects on democratic systems. No prior experience of the Internet is necessary to understand these chapters, though a beginnerıs level of familiarity would ease reading of a few passages.
Chapter four is an updated and adapted version of chapter seven from the first book in the series.
The front cover art is a light sculpture done especially for this book by the artist/muralist T. Scott Sayre. Entitled The Rebirth of Democracy, it depicts an elegant new shape emerging from the darkness near a flash of lightning--with ominous and threatening patterns remaining prominent in the background.
T. Scott Sayre lives in the Sierra Foothills with his wife and model, Diana, and their children. Scott also maintains a studio in the Bay Area.
Dr. Foreman lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is presently at work on the fifth book in his series On Democracy In Time.
The Universal Model: A Democratic Constitution for the Third Millennium, Pensema, 1995.
Lost In Dreams: A Voice for the Spirit of Democracy, Pensema, 1996.
Pensema Publishing Company publishes material that is constructive in relation to major problems in the post-modern world. Pensema means thoughtful in Esperanto.
The Center for the Evolution of Democracy, a nonprofit corporation, was established for the purpose of making new ideas about democracy available through literature, art, seminars, and consultations.