In an effort to make sense of the civic consequences of the ongoing technological revolutions in our midst, the Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy, in partnership with Perry World House, will devote a yearlong series in 2022-23 to exploring various intersections of technology and politics. Topics will include such issues as the role of race in shaping the often disparate impacts of technology, and what this means for democracy; the potential benefits and drawbacks of smart cities for sustainability and civic engagement; the relationship of Big Tech to democratic institutions and values; recent, technologically driven trends in the democratization of finance; examination of current and anticipated technological developments surrounding warfare; the relationship of technology to the question for economic democracy; and the technological features of the security state in China, and other similar regimes, and their impact on civic life.

"Democracy and Emergent Technology" Planning Committee

The members of the “Democracy and Emergent Technology” planning committee are Anita Allen (Penn Law), Ellen Goodman (Rutgers Law), Jeffrey Green (Penn Political Science; Director, Andrea Mitchell Center), Michael Horowitz (Penn Political Science; currently U.S. Defense Department, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Development and Emerging Capabilities), LaShawn Jefferson (Perry World House), Vijay Kumar (Penn Engineering), M. Susan Lindee (History and Sociology of Science), Jessa Lingel (Annenberg School), Matthew Roth (Andrea Mitchell Center), Thomas Shattuck (Perry World House), Benjamin Shestakofsky (Penn Sociology), and Christopher Yoo (Penn Law).