Government and politics: Cyber-Influence and Power

TED Studies, created in collaboration with Wiley, are curated video collections — supplemented by rich educational materials — for students, educators and self-guided learners. In Cyber-Influence and Power, activists, academics and statesmen come together at TED to delve into new ideas about how power and influence come about in the digital age. With them, we'll consider how communications technology is fueling transnational organizations and movements with inspiring and disturbing effects. Relevant areas of interest, study and coursework include: international relations, political science, international economics, globalization, media studies, Arab studies, European studies and Asia studies.

Learning outcomes

TED's Cyber-Influence and Power will enable learners to:

Discuss the relationship between globalization and the proliferation of information and communication technologies (ICTs)
Compare and contrast arguments for and against the idea that ICTs are inherently liberating and that widespread use of them necessarily leads to democracy
Analyze the argument that globalization and ICTs have not only led to new ways of exercising power but also made some of the more traditional indicators of power obsolete
Assess the degree to which existing political institutions are poised to manage the systemic risk inherent in today's technology infused globalized world
Evaluate the argument that in the global landscape, power is now wielded most effectively by those who control the narrative
Identify ways that ICTs empower global citizens seeking to ensure that both governments and technologies "serve the world's people and not the other way around" (Rebecca MacKinnon, "Let’s Take Back the Internet").

Relevant talks