Technology and American Democracy

"""Anthony Trotta has significantly elevated the discourse on a core tension in American public policy: expert knowledge vs. participatory democracy. Technological determinism—rational, unbiased, efficient—is widely assumed to be the overarching architecture of American progress. Trotta, however, broadens and deepens our understanding of public policy tensions via a deep analysis of deliberative democracy—politically oriented, participatory, discursive—that is grounded in an inherent and growing mistrust of government. As such, he presents a valuable framework for understanding the critical and enduring tensions that are enduring threats to American society along political fault lines such as: technological remediation of global warming vs. public resistance to lifestyle disruptions, public health interventions to confront pandemics vs. discomfort with vaccines and stringent shutdowns, and the value of government-issued money vs. cryptocurrencies. Trotta’s Technology and American Democracy is a welcome addition to university studies and policy debates across economics, technology, political science, cultural studies and beyond."" Marc Holzer, Distinguished Research Professor at Suffolk University-Boston; Founding Dean of the School of Public Affairs and Administration at Rutgers University; Elected Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration; Past-President of the American Society for Public Administration"