State-Society Relations in the Information Age and Democracies in the Post-Pandemic Period

GLOBAL ACADEMY TALKS https://www.globacademy.org/global-akademi-konusmalari-2/global-akademi-konusmalari-seminerler/ No. 9, NOVEMBER 2021 State-Society Relations in the Information Age and Democracies in the Post-Pandemic Period Prof.Dr. Haldun Yalçınkaya TOBB University of Economics and Technology haldun@etu.edu.tr STATE-SOCIETY RELATIONS IN THE INFORMATION AGE AND DEMOCRACIES IN THE POST-PANDEMIC PERIOD Haldun Yalçınkaya, Prof. Dr. TOBB University of Economics and Technology ABSTRACT The COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020 caused the rate of people that use the software in their daily lives to increase exponentially. In this context, the groundbreaking changes brought about by the technological developments in the economy have caused and continue to be revolutionary changes in society. Therefore, political institutions should also be expected to undergo a transformation. The first indication of this situation occurred on January 6, 2021, when the President of the United States was blocked for twelve hours from sending messages to the public on Twitter. This article includes an examination of this issue from the perspectives of the History of Political Thought, Computer Science, and Political Science. As a result, the changes in technology are expected to create changes in political systems. It is emphasized in this article that the biggest technological change in the Information Revolution might well be expected to be a result of the digitization of social activities. When we exclude the scenarios where the individual or the state prevails in the dystopian sense, it can be expected that the "governance" model will be effective in the political systems of the new era. This can be seen as a guarantee for humanity that the current software developments are not possible in the establishment of a political structure that does not have a human factor, at least at the level of current science. Future studies, on the other hand, should be carried out on how the governance model in question, in which the human factor is effective, should eventuate. REFERENCE: Yalçınkaya, Haldun, “State-Society Relations in the Information Age and Democracies in the PostPandemic Period”, Global Academy Talks Series (İstanbul: Global Academy and International Relations Council), No.9, November 2021, https://www.globacademy.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/HYalcinkaya_State-Society_v.1.pdf DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.11037.03047 1 Global Academy Talks, No. 9, November 2021 Introduction Many institutions and habits established with the Industrial Revolution either have undergone changes or have given signals of change over time. In the Information Revolution is likely to create in the political system: “Will the state and therefore the rulers become stronger?” or “will society become stronger in opposition to the state?” Even the emergence of a third way in terms of solving these problems might be expected. Information Age which we live in, with computers and Firstly, incidents such as the Cambridge Analytica 2 software-based applications used in portable smart scandal that occurred before the COVID-19 Pandemic devices, technological developments have begun to were discussed by those who thought that the state and affect every aspect of life. Undoubtedly, technology has administrators would be stronger. In this scandal, played an important role in overcoming the limitations examples such as the 2016 United States elections and experienced during the pandemic, and it still performs an the United Kingdom's referendum on leaving the important function today. Obviously, the experiences of European Union were analyzed by software using big the COVID-19 Pandemic, which started in 2020, have data, and similar examples emerged. Secondly, the accelerated the penetration of technology into daily life. scenario at the other extreme could be seen as the fact The Information Revolution, whose impact we feel in that individuals today are superior in their ability to many areas from the education system to working organize against the state apparatus, which has a conditions, is expected to have an impact on "politics" as superior position in its capacity to organize far beyond well. However, it is possible to make various evaluations the capacity of individuals. The most likely scenario for in different frameworks about how this effect will create this conflict between the state and the individual would change. be to find a compromise position at some point in Struggles to increase the organizational capacity of the between, rather than having an absolute winner. state have an important place and form the basis of In this article, the history of the individual-state struggle, studies of the History of Political Thought. Since Magna or in other words, the short history of political thought, Carta1, it has been seen that individuals and society can will be primarily discussed in order to analyze the take steps against the rulers of the state, and thus, in a aforementioned problem. Then, the effects of recent sense, against the state itself, at an increasing level in technological developments on the economy and the this struggle. It highlights two problematic poles that resulting transformation of politics will be examined. And have emerged today as a result of the change that the the stages of the individual-state struggle in the last three centuries will be explained. By means of these first 1 Magna Carta (1215) is accepted as the first document which declared that the king and his government were not above the law. In the aftermath of a political crisis, it aimed to prevent the King of England from abusing his power as a result of the struggle by the rebellious British nobles. UK Parliament Official website, accessed 1 October 2021, https://www.parliament.uk/about/living- heritage/evolutionofparliament/originsofparliament/birthofparlia ment/overview/magnacarta/. 2 Zoe Kleinman, “Cambridge Analytica: The Story so far,” BBC News, 21 March 2021, Accessed 1 October 2021, https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-43465968. 1 State-Society Relations in the Information Age and Democracies in the Post-Pandemic Period two sections, the capacity of technology to be decisive in terms of the transformation of social life will be determined. In the third part of the article, A Brief Overview of the Individual-State Struggle determinations about the transformation we are going The price to pay for what people do against nature has through will be unveiled. In the fourth part, the capacity manifested itself in the danger of climate change today. of Computer Science and its algorithms to solve Humanity is trying to take steps to combat and overcome problems raised by social events will be examined. Under this risk. In fact, there is general agreement among the fifth subheading, “governance” will be discussed as a scientists that we are too late and we can only minimize solution. This is Political Science's response to the need the damage if we start protecting nature right now. for change as a result of the technological However, didn't humanity originally start its struggle transformation in relations between the state and the against nature in great desperation? When humanity individual. It is not intended to determine whether the realized that it was inadequate operating as individuals, state or the individual will be more powerful in the it formed social groups. It tried to turn society into a governance process, which is presented as a possible perfect organization and designed the state, in order to solution in the conclusion section, because there is be in an advantageous position in its centuries-long currently not enough data available to suggest a concrete struggle against nature.3 answer to this question. In the end, the real question will be reached, not the answers: will the state add a new one to its past defeats or concessions toward the individual since the time of Magna Carta by accepting "governance"? And this question brings up the question of whether Computer Science has the capacity to fulfill every function of the state. At this point, it should be noted that there are problems relating to social activities that algorithms cannot solve, and the current highest level of mathematical science is insufficient to meet this need. Mathematics must solve the remaining questions in order to digitize the entirety of existing social life. This is a case where algorithms will need to be developed further. Bican Şahin, “State-Society Relations of the Information Age in the Post-Pandemic Period,” Global Academy Talks, 9 June 2021, 3 The achievement of technological developments such as discovering fire and inventing the wheel are important cornerstones of humanity’s struggle with nature. Fire burns when lightning strikes or when a volcano erupts, that is, when "nature wishes". Being able to control fire and use it whenever wanted, gave humanity an important power. Compared to today, this power was as important as accessing satellite maps with our mobile phones. For society to survive, people who perform such different functions as those of stonemasons, healers, hunters, seamsters, etc. are needed. Thanks to the division of labor, people were thus able to meet their limited needs. However, as people met their needs, they continued to feel the need for more, and they continue to do so. As Accessed online 1October 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lFc-NwQfbw&t=1775s. 2 Global Academy Talks, No. 9, November 2021 they needed more, they sought a more perfect better organized and form society. As a result of this organization, namely the state. choice, it is very thought-provoking that humanity’s Plato, in his work entitled The State4, in which he defined the ideal state, declared that a total of 5,040 families victory over "nature"(!) has resulted in today's climate crisis. were needed for a state to operate. In his work, he listed In addition to these negativities, the journey of the division of labor as between managers, combatants, establishing the state, which humanity established in and employees. Of course, according to Plato, who did order to fight against nature, showed incredible not rank the slaves in society in this utopian state, it developments compared to the point it started from. should be noted that the perfect state described is Humanity not only established the state but has also perhaps far behind the current level, but it was far ahead continuously improved on the functioning capacity of this of its time in terms of equality between men and women. organization. Each development of the state organization Undoubtedly, today the state has gone far beyond what has faced different challenges, and each time it has been Plato thought it could. In terms of population, the number possible to evolve by adapting to these challenges.5 The of people living in residences in a luxury neighborhood in first major challenge in the growing state was the Istanbul or London is almost equal to what would be the question of who would rule, thus one of the most basic case in Plato's ideal state. If time travel were possible and fields of study of Political Science emerged. Initially, this he had the opportunity to see the greatness that the was easily resolved, and in Ancient Egypt, the Pharaoh utopian state he described had achieved by the twentieth was able to appear before the people and declare "I am century, Plato would be quite surprised. God". Undoubtedly, this was one of the first great It is possible to talk about two major negative consequences of the organizational capacity that the state has reached today: namely, the waging of wars and the destruction of nature. In addition to the size of the state, the fact that it waged wars with such a perfect (!) organization that would cause the deaths of hundreds of millions of people throughout the twentieth century is the first negativity in question. Interestingly, humanity could not be successful in its struggle against nature when acting as an individual, and it had to choose to be Platon, Republic, Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, transl. Sabahattin Eyüpoğlu, M.Ali Cimcöz, İstanbul, 2006. 5 For detailed information on the subject, see: Mehmet Ali Ağaoğulları and Levent Köker, İmparatorluktan Tanrı Devletine, İmge Yayınları, Ankara, 1990;Levent Köker and Mehmet Ali Ağaoğulları, Tanrı Devletinden Kral-Devlete, İmge Kitabevi 4 contracts made between society and the rulers. Frankly, when we think of the era of the Pharaohs, it was not a bad deal for the society to think that the ruler was the creator in return for the society being controlled by an orderly or political operation. As a result, this situation was the price to pay for the stability of the economy, and therefore the political system, which was established within the framework of the possibilities offered by science and technology, not due to the average intelligence of the people living in those years. To sum Yayınları, Ankara, 2013; Mehmet Ali Ağaoğulları and Filiz Çulha Zabcı, Kral-Devletten Ulus-Devlete, İmge Kitabevi Yayınları, Ankara, 2017. 3 State-Society Relations in the Information Age and Democracies in the Post-Pandemic Period up, as people developed their level of organization, they apparatus in its struggle against nature, after the experienced a transition from the ruler being a creator to developments in science, technology, production tools, them being representatives of the creator and then these and production methods. In other words, as a result of people executing the creator's orders. Alongside this these developments, the degree of the individual's need representation of the creator on the stage of history, for society has gradually decreased in its struggle especially with the development of science and reason, against nature. Thus, the need for the organizational there was a transition to dynasties. Dynasties did not last capacity of the state has also decreased. An individual very long in the historical process. We have moved on to with limited capacity to fight alone in the wild was a system where the rulers' power to rule is derived from creating an alternative to extinction in nature, by obeying those ruled over, rather than from a divine source or a a chief or magician in a tribe and doing a job assigned to dynasty. This system has led to the emergence of an them. In return, the individual could also act as if the ruler understanding called the "Social Contract", which is was the creator himself and even work on the expressed in the passages of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.6 construction of a pyramid for his burial when he died. In This system, which was explained as the transfer of the the Middle Ages, in return for living within the walls of a power of governing the society to those who want to castle or city-state, the top person could be obeyed as a govern, was put into practice in the form of a "republic". king or queen who owned everything. The fact that the rulers took the power to rule from the But when the need for the protection of a state in their people meant being accountable to the people. Therefore, struggle against nature decreased, that's when they it is necessary to think that the rulers get their power to started to struggle with the state. They opposed the rule from a divine source or a dynasty on one side, and on payment of taxes and drew up the Magna Carta. For the the other hand, they get it from the people; because, king, signing the Magna Carta only meant consulting another reading of the History of Political Thought should when he was going to collect taxes, and this would not be understood in terms of the struggle between the state reduce his income. However, it was inevitable that he and the individual. When we think about it in this sense, would sign it, and five hundred years later, this time the the fact that the power to govern originates with the King's taxed tea would spill into the sea in Boston. Or, in people means that the rulers share the power they have the nineteenth century, those who ruled by social or which the state has with the people. At this point, the contract would have to give their citizens basic human following question comes to mind: how did the state rights such as the right to live, the right to travel, and the consent to derive its power from the very people it once right to be educated, while taking the power to rule from ruled over with absolute authority, and even be regulated the people. These developments can be summarized as by them? Here is the answer to this question; it is in the follows: the struggle first began between the individual form of a decrease in humanity's need for the state and nature, progressed through the creation of the state. 6 Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, transl. Vedat Günyol, İstanbul, 2006. 4 Global Academy Talks, No. 9, November 2021 In the second stage, it resulted in the fact that the commitment to regionalism, and the transition to a global created state was seen as an element to be struggled dimension. On the other hand, the digitization and against by the individual. While the struggle between the countability of social events indicate a revolutionary individual and the state is still continuing, the increasing change. climate disasters in recent times are unfortunately a reflection of the destruction inflicted on nature. The Effect of Technological Developments on the Economy and Politics Studies in the field of political economy reveal the relationship between economics and politics. The control of fire, the invention of the wheel, advances in mathematics, or breakthroughs in chemistry were reflected in production methods. In fact, technological developments aside, intellectual developments have enabled the development of technology. Undoubtedly, it The tendency that the history of political thought has is no coincidence that scientific thought and taught us is that humans created the state to fight nature, developments in art advanced together in the Age of and after the state became stronger, individuals began to Enlightenment, which was crowned with reform and the restrict the powers of the state. The determinants of this Renaissance. The most important thing was that trend are directly proportional to the decrease in the humanity destroyed the chains of dogmatic thought need for the state. Developments in science and desired by the church and switched to rational thought. technology have led to changes in production methods, The establishment and acceptance of scientific thinking, and therefore the changes in the workforce. The change the reflection of positive thinking in discussions, and, of in the division of labor has led to changes in political course, not prevent the emergence of new theories or systems. In this context, it is not surprising that in the ideas were the result of long struggles. The inquisitions First Industrial Revolution, the harnessing of steam or accusations of witchcraft point to setbacks in these power and the birth of nation-states are parallel. There is struggles. The history of scientific thought tells us the a parallelism between the Second Industrial Revolution bitter details of this process. However, the changes in the and the end of colonization after the development of the intellectual field in the Age of Enlightenment were also chemical industry and production methods. There is a reflected in the means of production and then in the reason why we call the period we live in the Information political structures. Age because the developments in science and technology are associated with changes in production methods, the division of labor, and even the economy. In fact, communication and transportation come to the fore as areas where change is being experienced in this period. The effect of this was a blurring of the sharp borders between states, the decrease in the individual's In the sixteenth century in Europe, dynasties promoted positive thinking to take away the ruling power from the church, and ultimately achieve their ambition. In this way, states with borders, citizens, and legitimate administrations, which we refer to as the modern state system, were able to emerge in Europe. Thanks to the 5 State-Society Relations in the Information Age and Democracies in the Post-Pandemic Period studies carried out by science and reason in this period, scientific and then economic changes on politics, great for example, the mapping that took Greenwich as the disasters have been experienced. It is no coincidence that starting point, and the British developing the capacity to The Age of Enlightenment and the Thirty Years' War, the navigate the seas, all of this resulted in them being able Industrial Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, or the to establish the British Empire. On the eve of the American Civil War and the Second Industrial Revolution nineteenth century, steam-powered engines led to a and the resulting World Wars took place in that order. series of changes, from the formation of nation-states to The basis of these wars was the resistance of political the abolition of slavery, leading to the era called the institutions to the transformation brought about by Industrial Revolution. (The abolition of slavery followed scientific development and economic change. 7 Despite the Industrial Revolution. Editor) everything, it was inevitable that the institutions of In fact, it is highly expected that the changes in science and technology will reflect on the economy and this will change the division of labor. What is undesirable is that the changes in the division of labor in their turn change politics; because politics always resist change. After the Age of Enlightenment and paving the way toward positive thinking, there was no obstacle to holding back scientific development. It can be argued that the reflection of this on the economy was not very difficult within the dynamics of the economy itself, compared to the resistance of the political institutions. However, the reflection of this change in the means of production in the economy, first on the division of labor and then on politics, had relatively greater difficulties. As a result of politics could not resist the expected change and eventually experienced the transformation required by science and technology. In the meantime, it should be noted that the change in the political institutions since Magna Carta has occurred as a result of the struggle between the state and the individual, and this has progressed with the individual gaining possessions from the state each time. The problem of the empowerment of the individual in relation to the state, thanks to the technological developments in the period we live in, is analyzed in the rest of this article. What the Information Age Brings and How It Forces Change the changes seen in the economy with the Age of Auguste Comte, known as the founder of sociology, Enlightenment, we cannot say that feudalism arranged the sciences hierarchically according to their immediately accepted the emergence of the bourgeoisie. degree of difficulty. When sorting, he put arithmetic at For the bourgeoisie to survive, feudalism had to be the beginning, which is like the easiest; he put sociology abolished. On the other hand, after the First Industrial last, that is, as the hardest. While justifying this Revolution, great struggles were made for the abolition explanation, he emphasized the fact that the unknowns of slavery. But when it comes to the reflection of are controllable in mathematics but too many and 7 See: Eric Hobsbawn, The Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century: 1914-1991, transl. Yavuz Alogan, Everest Yayınları, 2006. 6 Global Academy Talks, No. 9, November 2021 uncontrollable in sociology. Mathematics, which really The advances in science and technology that are forms the basis of the positive sciences, has enabled the happening today are bringing about the Third Industrial development of the sciences that keep humanity alive, Revolution, otherwise known as the Information such as physics, chemistry, and even computer science. Revolution. What is occurring in communication and The social sciences, on the other hand, were analyzed transportation today is changing the economy by forcing theoretically for many years using historical narrative the production methods and division of labor to change. analysis and mostly qualitative methods, and it was very It might be expected that the change in the economy will difficult to express them through mathematical necessitate a change in political institutions, as formulae. However, nowadays, social events have explained in the previous chapters. The problem that become quantifiable, especially thanks to portable smart arises at this stage is not whether there will be a change devices (especially mobile phones and smartwatches). in politics; but what changes will occur. In order to The digitization of social activities, which is still in its understand this, it is necessary to establish what the infancy, will grow exponentially in the future, and at changes in production methods are, then what kind of some point, the mathematical modeling of social events change has occurred in the division of labor, what kind of will become more precise. Thanks to these models, transformation they have created in the economy, and prediction methods should be expected to achieve great lastly, it is necessary to determine what functions of the accuracy. Obviously, to move from today to the above- existing political institution pose an obstacle to the mentioned stage, the existing digitization must multiply continuation of the new economy. Since it is not possible exponentially. In this context, this development should be to answer all these questions in the space reserved for expected in the not-too-distant future. this article, only a few fundamental points will be Today, we can give the simple example of organizing adverted to. polls and increasing their accuracy to better predict Chief among the differences between the means of voter behavior. Although an election is a very important production in the twentieth century and today is the fact event, the reason why this situation is simple is that the that geographical distances have become meaningless, method of estimating the detection of a single behavior - and that production chains are planned at the global voting - in order to consciously make a prediction, level. In the distribution of labor, it is observed that the remains quite straightforward compared to quantifying increased use of robots and automation systems has the previously mentioned social behaviors. The analogy become a challenge in this regard. Undoubtedly, the in this regard is that by profiling individuals according to mobility of the workforce stands out as another issue. In their interests while browsing social media or online, the fact, it should be noted that the new production methods delivery of targeted ads will be more accurate as it and the change in the division of labor, which include involves a more complex process than election details far beyond what is written here, are related to the predictions. developments in communication and transportation. These developments are reflected in the economy, and 7 State-Society Relations in the Information Age and Democracies in the Post-Pandemic Period even currencies that are controlled and monopolized by supplied to the production line are going to arrive to the states are forced out of the hands of the state with which type of product is produced for which store and in blockchain technology. At this stage, one can easily what quantity they are made, function with great foresee that the new economy threatens the borders and efficiency. However, it has not yet been seen that this currencies of the state, at least at first glance. It must be situation has taken a large place in our social life and that acknowledged that it is not expected that states will not social life has been digitized at the same level. It was felt make concessions in this regard. This should be seen as that this could happen one day, and it was known that like the inevitability of the eventual collapse of a bridge this capability was being built, but it was not foreseen that appears to be damming a flood. A new bridge will that the transition to the next level was going to occur so surely be built; however, this bridge should take into rapidly. account the new way the water is flowing, and adapt to the floodwater so that similar structural arrangements should be expected in politics. Computer Science and the Digitization of Social Life Meanwhile, a global pandemic began to occur due to the Corona disease created by the COVID-19 virus. Humanity had a to-do list to follow, based on the knowledge gained from history, and thought that somehow it would beat this pandemic. However, unlike previous pandemics in history, humankind had the habits brought about by the Industry 4.0 and communication between machines new economy and did not want to give up on them and were at the top of the list of topics discussed in the pre- has not given up on them yet. If we think that people pandemic period. With this, it is necessary to see that the continue their work, education, and even social life with new economy began to make progress before it was the help of portable smart devices and online systems, reflected in people's social lives. The production sector, despite the effects of the pandemic at this point, we see which had a profit motive, saw this development in that the rate of spillover of digitization in production into Computer Science before it was made available to social life has been accelerated. individuals in society. In this context, a product, for example, is designed in California and starts to be produced in China. At this stage, the employment that would be created through local production in the USA instead of China is not considered. Thanks to the opportunities created by science and technology in communication and transportation, the focus is on increased profitability by utilizing the cheaper labor costs in China. Even after the product has been designed, with the digitization of the production organization methods, all the processes involved, from when the parts With the pandemic, people had to go into quarantine or were restricted to staying at home. Undoubtedly, initially, big question marks arose about how to conduct meetings, interviews, design, and production processes in schools or workplaces. Thanks to the software and infrastructure that Computer Science and computer engineers have developed over the years, an increasing number of people have continued to run their businesses online. Even in the transactions of states, disruptions could be kept under control. Undoubtedly, income and 8 Global Academy Talks, No. 9, November 2021 infrastructure inequalities around the world have created society do not need a state apparatus to organize differences in online solutions. But to put it mildly, for themselves, and that they are in instant communication those with the necessary infrastructure, the limitations with each other. In fact, perhaps for the first time in the of the pandemic have accelerated the transition to online history of humanity, those in society can instantly learn life with an exponential increase. For those with limited the feelings and thoughts of their political leaders. In a or totally lacking in infrastructure facilities, it was sense, the communication revolution offered by social positive support for eliminating these deficiencies. The media means the end of the asymmetry of the state's medium and long-term consequences of the economic, superiority of organization and the privilege of having social, and cultural effects of the transition to the online unilateral information. Then, perhaps we can say that we world began to be discussed. have received the signal that the metaphorical needle of While all these developments were taking place, on the one hand, people started to create a social bond with each other through online tools. This bond, which already existed, has led to revolutionary changes in social and cultural terms, as well as being productive in life, and it still continues to do so. For example, people immediately began to learn everything online, from information about each other, what others were doing, the news, about asymmetry, which has been in favor of the state for centuries, has begun to turn to the side of the individual in the state-individual conflict. The continuation of this situation, which is still in its infancy, and the capacity it carries may lead to major changes. Whether this change will happen and if it does, how it will happen, and how far it can extend stand as new problems facing Political Science. government services, even the current morale levels of What can be the limits of this change; Or will it progress the political leaders. For example, the previous president indefinitely? At the beginning of this article, the of the USA, Donald Trump, was a leader who shared his digitization of social activities was mentioned as the mood with everyone on Twitter. This was an incredible basis of change. Therefore, it is expected that the development. The importance of the subject can be capacity of digitization will determine the limits of better understood if we consider what would have progress. Thus, the question of whether every social happened if the mood of Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill, activity can be digitized in terms of Computer Science when they entered the Yalta Conference in 1945, was comes to the fore. instantly known to the whole world. Or, what would have happened if the leaders of the USA and the Soviet Union had shared their thoughts with the public instantly during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962? It has great potential in terms of Political Science that people are aware of everything in full, and that individuals are in uninterrupted contact with each other. It is very important for Political Science that the individuals in Mathematics is the basis of the branch of science known as Computer Science. Computer Science can analyze the data it counts with a theoretical framework and with problem-solving techniques offered by Mathematics. Computer Science produces algorithms thanks to problems that scientists working in Mathematical Science solved decades or centuries ago. Thanks to the 9 State-Society Relations in the Information Age and Democracies in the Post-Pandemic Period software and hardware produced by Computer final point where the conveniences are offered by Engineering using these algorithms, daily life has become Computer Engineering through the algorithms and more efficient through automation. Therefore, when automation created by Mathematics. It is important that Computer Science wants to solve a problem, it can create after the digitization of social activities, an optimization solution mechanisms by using methods created in that will carry out politics alone is not possible. Indeed, it Mathematics. Reading this backward, from the point of reveals the fact that the human factor should not be view of Computer Science, the problems that excluded. In other words, regardless of the level of Mathematical Science cannot solve reveal the last automation offered by Mathematics and Computer frontier to progress. At this point, the border is shaped Sciences to humanity, the existence of unsolvable by "unsolvable problems" in terms of Mathematics. 8 In problems guarantees that the human factor will be other words, digitization has a limit; and this limit should indispensable. Undoubtedly, if these problems are solved, be expected to establish the last place where changes we will have much newer philosophical and therefore that will affect the shaping of politics can go. political problems. When it comes to the digitization of social activities, the The fact that artificial intelligence or automation that first perceived problem is the concern that social excludes people from the field of politics is impossible in decisions can be made through the use of artificial terms of Mathematics, at least for now, guarantees us intelligence. Although this concern is not the subject of that the influence of the human factor in political this article, Computer Science does not have the capacity systems will not disappear in a sense. But which person to solve every social issue at its current stage. Mehmet are we talking about: the rulers or the individuals who Akşit, mentioning ten problems that cannot be solved make up society? The answer to this will be the answer within the framework of Computer Science, states that it to the question of whether the state will remain strong or is not possible to optimize the multidimensional value whether individuals will become stronger in opposition to system in terms of the Computer Science philosophy. At the state. this point, his answer to one of the most important philosophical and ethical problems within the framework of Computer Science is that "it is impossible to produce a robot with software that cannot harm people.”. 9 It is impossible to find the most optimal value system at the 8 The main Unsolved Problems in Mathematics are listed as follows: 1. Goldbach Hypothesis, 2. Riemann Hypothesis, 3. Assumption of Two Primes, 4. Whether NP Problems Are Actually P Problems, 5. Collatz Problem, 6. Palindromic number 196 does not end when the algorithm is applied, 7 Is the number 10 only a number?, 8. Happy ending problem, 9. Finding a Euler brick whose area and diagonal are integers, 10. Determining whether the Euler-Mascheroni constant is rational, 11. Is Governance a Solution and Will It Be Sufficient? Our problem, which was explained in the introduction, was the effect on politics of making social activities Determining whether there is any perfect odd integer. See: https://www.matematiksel.org/matematikte-henuzcozulememis-11-problem/. 9 Mehmet Akşit, “State-Society Relations of the Information Age in the Post-Pandemic Period,” Global Academy Talks, 9 June 2021, Accessed online 1 October 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lFc-NwQfbw&t=1775s. 10 Global Academy Talks, No. 9, November 2021 countable. It is possible to talk about two extreme important threshold. Twitter, the product of an important alternatives regarding the course of this problem. The social media company that provides the digitization of first of these is the total control of what individuals can social activities, forms the basis of major academic think by the administrators and an inclination to a studies today. Twitter is an important channel that dystopian world. The second can be expressed as creates a platform for pioneering studies that include, for individuals being organized without the need for the state example, the determination of the behavior of terrorist or the initiation of the effectiveness of non-state organizations such as ISIS in various languages through organizations. Social Media Analysis and even forewarning a situation During the election of the previous US President Donald Trump, Cambridge Analytica used a method similar to the analysis of consumers' behavior by an advertiser, and marketing products accordingly to manipulate voter behavior. In fact, the subject of this article is not whether this has been done or not, but rather the concern that it is technically possible to manipulate voter behavior with such methods. If it were historically possible for the rulers of states to measure with great precision the minimum, they could give to satisfy the demands of the public, would the weekly working hours be much more than 40 hours? In other words, science could be used to reduce the capacity of individuals to fight against the state. involving political violence that may occur in a country. It means that a communication mechanism, regardless of the reason and purpose of the US President's inaccessibility to its citizens, can take away this authority from the administration holding the sovereign authority. However, following J.J. Rousseau's "Social Contract", the people handed over sovereignty to their proxies through elections, and the authority thus given was used until the next elections. Sometimes this contract could be broken through coups or public protests, and a new era was up for debate. The fact that a technology company can enter this mechanism within a few hours means the breaking of the social contract. In this context, it signals the need for a review of the mechanism regarding the transfer of sovereignty from On the other hand, during the raid on the US Congress on the people to the rulers in the near future. This means January 6, 2021, the president, who would hand over the sharing the privileged position of the “state”. presidency in two weeks, was blocked from addressing the American society for 12 hours by canceling his Twitter account. Throughout history, it has been seen that heads of state have been hindered by armies, palace intrigues, other institutions of the political establishment, and even by medical personnel. However, for the first time in history, preventing the head of state from taking action by a technology company thousands of kilometers away from the capital, constitutes an It would not be a correct approach to predict whether the individual or the state will prevail in this struggle. History shows us that when such struggles take place, instead of the absolute victory of one of the parties, the state eventually makes concessions in favor of individuals and is willing to share a limited part of what it has. On the last point, we should note that considering that there are problems that cannot be solved by algorithms in terms of Computer Science, we cannot foresee that social 11 State-Society Relations in the Information Age and Democracies in the Post-Pandemic Period activities will be completely digitized and, in a sense, to be organized that software offers to humanity and the managed by artificial intelligence, at least at this stage. state's unwillingness to hand over the superiority of such In this context, the proposed mechanism for the organization, resolution of the conflict in question is “governance”. governance. 13 Of course, from this optimistic point of The concept of governance stands out as a management method used in situations where state and non-state actors should be involved. The difference between the concept of governance and the concept of government is that in the latter, there is a control system managed from with concepts such as internet view, it represents a constructive solution to solve the problem. The alternative to this is that the state or software platforms prevail, which might be expected to drag humanity into a dystopian future. Instead of Conclusion a single center. Governance does not have the function of being managed from a single center. Governance is defined as the sum of the joint relations of public or private actors carried out in different ways. In this definition made by the Global Governance Commission, it is stated that the actors in question can be individuals or institutions. 10 In favor of governance, non-state actors can create joint decision mechanisms in national or international administrations. Execution of the areas under the authority of sovereign states with non-state actors within the framework of a kind of public-private partnership creates the concept of governance. While it is possible to increase examples of this, it is also possible to talk of security governance related to the status and 11 The effect of technological developments on the economy, and the evolution of political institutions following this effect, is a situation we have encountered throughout the History of Political Thought. We observe that the economy is changing as a result of the Information Revolution of the era we live in. Therefore, at an educated guess, it is possible to expect political institutions to undergo a process of change. The exponential increase in the rate of humanity's use of smart devices, especially due to the pandemic in recent years, has highlighted the possibility of this change occurring sooner than previously anticipated. If we leave aside the dystopian scenarios where either functions of private military companies. In fact, many state or the individual will be victorious over the other, it initiatives are being taken to solve the problem of how to is necessary to see a constructive transformation of manage cyberspace. The problem is still being widely political institutions as probable. The prominent model in discussed in the world and suggestions are offered as this constructive scenario is the so-called “governance”, 12 solutions. Ultimately, it may be possible in the future to which includes a partnership of the state and individuals propose a middle way that may exist between the ability to govern on a common platform. If we go through our 10 12 Commission on Global Governance, Our Global Neighbourhood: The Report of the Commission on Global Governance, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1995, p.2. 11 Burak Tangör and Haldun Yalçınkaya, “Private Military Companies in the Framework of Security Governance,” Uluslararası İlişkiler, Volume 7, Issue 25, (Spring 2010), p.127154. For one of the pioneering studies on this subject, see: Sinan Ülgen, Governing Cyberspace: a Road Map for Transatlantic Leadership, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington DC, 2016. 13 About Internet Governance See: Global Platform Governance Network, online, Accessed 1 October 2021, https://www.cigionline.org/topics/platform-governance/. 12 Global Academy Talks, No. 9, November 2021 case study, it has become inevitable to create a governance that will prevent Twitter from silencing a head of state in the event of another incident occurring. The same governance system is needed for the opposite scenario. Undoubtedly, although the Twitter social media platform and heads of state are given in the example, it should be expected that this situation will cover all software and government levels when governance is established. The purpose of this article is not to propose how the governance model in question should be, the models related to it can be the subject of future studies. Consequently, the need for Internet governance and the need to model it is a case in point. Otherwise, it is possible to experience tensions between the state and the individual, examples of which we have been observing for centuries. A pleasing point is that Mathematics does not have the capacity to eliminate the human factor; but that is, for the time being! 13 GLOBAL ACADEMY IS AN ACADEMIC PLATFORM DEVELOPED WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS COUNCIL OF TURKEY. The International Relations Council of Turkey (IRCT) is a non-profit association, established in 2004 as a network of IR scholars, diplomats and practitioners to conduct projects, conferences and educational programs in order to contribute to the development of international studies in Turkey, and support those studies bringing together professionals in related fields. The IRCT is a collaborating partner of the International Studies Association (ISA) since 2010 and a founding member of the Balkan Political Science Association (BPSA) since 2016. Major activities of IRCT are a biannual Convention on “International Relations Teaching and Education” since 2005, a quarterly journal called Uluslararası İlişkiler, indexed by SSCI, the Security Academy since 2010, the Foreign Policy Academy since 2015, the Security Portal since 2019, and regular seminars, conferences, brainstorming events. The IRCT has collaborated with major universities in Turkey and obtained support from various national and international entities for its projects. For more information about IRCT, please visit its website (https://www.uik.org.tr). Global Akademi Konuşmaları Serisi, Heinrich Böll Stiftung Derneği Türkiye Temsilciliği tarafından desteklenmektedir. Global Academy Talks Series are supported by the Heinrich Böll Stiftung Turkey. © GlobalAcademy 2021 The copyright of this work belongs to the Global Academy, and it cannot be used or republished without prior permission, except for partially reasonable quotations to be given as a source in accordance with the Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works No. 5846. The evaluations in this study belong to the author; it does not reflect the corporate view of Global Academy.