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