SpringIssue2018 JIBSUnitedMagazine

OPINION |
THE FUTURE OF
GOVERNANCE AND
by Nikola Kolev
From Trudeau’s funny socks in
Davos to Trump’s less-than-
140-words executive orders: politicians
are closer to us than ever. Once
standing in power just like Greek gods
on the Mount Olympus, they had to go
down to the people to accommodate
themselves in a technology-led era.
However, harmless that may sound,
it looks more like a deviation to some
darker times than an evolution to a
brighter future. As students, our role is
to be aware of the processes that involve
us and, as one of you, I will try to help
you find your way during these stormy
times.
In its core, things remain the same:
politicians’ aspire to gain the people’s
affection by connecting with them on
both reasonable and emotional level.
However, technology is disrupting the
ways this task is being achieved. Since
discussions moved from the streets to
social media’s feeds, the way to approach
voters had to accommodate this
change. Because of the huge heterogeneity
of people’s needs, tastes, fears etc.
it used to be hard for a politician to correctly
discriminate individuals on personal
traits. However, the future is now,
and through the modern-day communication
channels, it is becoming increasingly
easier to make people divide
themselves into groups with similar
preferences. As consumers, each of us is
eager to share personal data in exchange
for the provision of a product or service.
The more the data, the more accurate
the suggestions, the higher the profit in
terms of money, number of votes and so
on.
“
Even more, it is a threat
to democracy in its core.
Recently, this model’s foundations were
shaken by the already well-known data
breach suffered by Facebook and the
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