Information and Communication Studies Research Collection

Rezonings and section four motions have made planning an issue for public discussion, media publicity, and professional conferences, but debates have tended to focus on planning problems, such as proper land use, future rezoning requirements, financing local services, and so on. Rezonings are not so much a planning problem, as a political problem. The real issues are the political pressures behind planning decisions and the role of community opinion in determining planning policy. In this context, politicians are not necessarily villains; they too are victims of the Irish political system and voter's expectations.

Studies of Irish politics have generally used a clientelist framework: voters in rural areas seem to obtain state benefits through a politician's interventions and, in return, become the politician's "clients". This article reports anthropological research on urban brokerage and clientelism carried out in Dublin from 1978 to 1981 which suggests that a more complex analytic model is required. Clientelism was relevant in the context of party politics, but voters who sought a broker's help did not necessarily become clients. Political brokerage did not guarantee individual voters' electoral support, and was largely used to enhance the politician's reputation in the community. It is thus useful to distinguish brokerage from clientelism; although the two are related, they are not interchangeable. In addition, the "currency" of brokerage, was rarely politicians' influence over the actual allocation of state resources, but rather their information about bureaucratic procedures and their access to the bureaucrats themselves. There is no reason to presume that brokerage, based on such a monopoly over information and access, should necessarily decrease as Ireland becomes increasingly urban and industrial.

Existing studies of Irish politics presume a clientelist exchange between politician and voter: the politician uses personal influence to obtain state benefits for the constituent, and the constituent provides electoral support in return. This study investigates the accuracy of this assumption by tracing how people actually obtain the state resources they need, and examining the exchanges between voter, politician, and bureaucrat that revolve around public resources. A number of issues are addressed. First, there is little data on how or why clientelism operates in urban Ireland, as most studies have examined only rural communities. Second, despite the clientelist rhetoric, the actual necessity for clientelist exchanges has not been demonstrated. Third, it is unclear which social and economic factors encourage voters to become clients, or what political benefits politicians receive by acting as patrons or brokers. Finally, the thesis investigates why clientelism should in fact exist in a homogeneous society which lacks politically salient ethnic, class, or regional divisions. Research shows that clientelism exists in Dublin, but politicians do not control material resources, but rather information regarding state benefits and access to the bureaucrats who allocate benefits. Often, politicians ensure that voters obtain benefits which they are entitled to, but which they might not otherwise receive. Politicians do not obtain a direct return for this assistance, but their enhanced reputation in the community increased their overall electoral support. Brokerage exchanges are most frequent among poorer segments of the community who are most dependent on state assistance. State officials help create the demand for information and access, while also helping politicians to satisfy those demands. Clientelism is both an urban and rural phenomenon; the control of information and access gives politicians considerable leverage over people who depend on state assistance.

Irish politics has often been characterized, in both academic analysis and popular discourse, as clientelist. clientelism, as a means by which people gain access to scarce and valued resources, as been a useful means of understanding some aspects of Irish politics. The term has also been used, especially in Ireland, to signify the corrupt abuse of power by using public resources for personal electoral gain. In this view, people go through 'friends of friends' to obtain, informally, what they would not obtain via the formal system. So strongly held is the folk belief in clientelism that most successes, even if evidence is lacking, are seen as the result of 'strings being pulled', or 'special connections'. This view of political life is rarely challenged; it can be considered a basic premise, or world-view, of Irish politics. It is this strong belief in clientelism that will be explored: how is it created and maintained? In order to explore the imagery and symbolism of clientelism, this paper will describe political interactions among voters, political activists, polticians, and public officials in Dublin. The goal of such decriptions will be to demonstrate how politicians use the various resources at their disposal to maintain a belief system that suits their purposes. The premise of this paper will be that, whatever historical reasons (cultural, economic, and political) may explain the development of clientelist beliefs, these beliefs must also be supported and maintained through daily interaction. Politicians must make themselves mediators between voters and the state, and encourage a belief in their efficacy and the relative powerlessness of voters as actors on their own or as a collective group. Community and political life in various parts of Dublin will be explored to demonstrate this process; special emphasises will be placed on politicians' clinics, party meetings, resident's groups, and meetings between voters and politicians in Dail Eireann as well as local Councils. Such descriptions will illustrate how politicians use their own personal abilities, the resources provided by their position, and the shared ideology of Irish culture to reinforce clientelist beliefs, regardless of the accuracy of such beliefs.

The examination of clientelism has been a major theme in Irish politics and administration. People usually understand clientelism as referring to exchanges in the electoral arena: politicians intervene, on behalf of voters, in the administrative process, and, in return, voters reward politicians with votes. If most citizens do not recognize the term, they recognize the phenomenon: politicians using their personal influence to obtain state benefits for constituents and, in return, constituents providing their votes. Politicians are viewed as brokers, mediating between the state and the public.

We live in an age where all problems have a technological solution. We also live in the information age, where information is the modern currency of exchange. Small wonder, then, that the combination of the two into Information Technology, is a potent talisman indeed. Computers and telecommunications, in tandem, offer a powerful vision of the future. As a peripheral, and less economically developed, part of the European Community, Ireland is particularly interested in Information Technology. There is a concern that, especially as 1992 approaches, Ireland is becoming more peripheral to Europe, rather than more integrated into Europe. Irish and EC policy is concerned with both the fate of peripheral parts of Europe and the role of Information Technology in avoiding that fate. The following quote exemplifies this: "...information and communications technology essentially provide a means of communicating and processing information, [thus] the economic constraints imposed by geographical location which have characterised rural areas will become less significant. This will provide an opportunity for revitalizing economic activity in rural areas." (Commission of the European Communities 1989: 2)2 There is significant EC and Irish funding for investment in IT (e.g., STAR, Telematique, ORA, and RACE). It is hoped this will improve the economic position of Ireland, and especially the rural areas of Ireland. The decentralisation of bureaucracy, use of communications technology in tourism and agriculture, greater use of IT by small businesses, improved individual access to government services are all ways in which IT should make the Less Favoured Regions more economically viable. The vision of Ireland conveyed by IT is decentralized and environmentally friendly. Rural businesses mean lower population density and less congestion in urban areas. This reduces transport costs, reducing both the use of fuel for automobiles and trains and the consequent atmospheric pollution. Better yet, if one can work at home, it also means less office construction. With fewer offices, there is less energy wasted heating those offices, less space needed for car parking, less demand for public transport, and so on. The growth of cities can be slowed, and rural areas can be maintained. We can be 'green' and 'new age' and still have jobs as well.

Studies of Irish politics have often emphasised clientelist relations between voters and politicians. A survey carried out in the 1970s indicates that the importance of politicians has been overstated. A significant percentage of people chose non-political figures as brokers between themselves and the state. Differences in urban and rural community social structures, which are not reflections of age, education, or socio-economic status, correlate with different brokerage choices. Such findings cast doubt on both modernization and dependency explanations of brokerage. Further research on social networks of friendship and exchange are necessary, since informal personal networks emerge as important links between individuals and the state.

The Republic of Ireland is often portrayed, by residents and outsiders alike, as a society where everybody knows everyone else, and, especially, knows everybody else's business. In the political arena, this has been phrased as 'personalism'. In academic discourse, this has often been translated into the terms clientelism and brokerage: voters going to politicians in order to obtain benefits from the government. There has been a wealth of discussion about clientelism and brokerage in Irish politics; indeed, it is one of the major topics for ethnographic research in the Republic of Ireland (see, for instance, Gibbon and Higgins 1974; Bax 1976; Sacks 1976; Higgins 1982; Komito 1984, 1989a, 1989b; and Wilson 1989). Although 'personalism' is often used as a coded allusion to political clientelism, it can be used simply to emphasize the personal and informal dimension of Irish politics (e.g., Schmitt 1973). This is especially true in the relationships between politicians and both partisan supporters and also voters. It is this personal dimension, as evidenced in Dublin politics, which this article addresses. Most descriptions of Irish politics provided by anthropologists have derived from rural ethnographies, and the extent to which similar behaviours would exist in urban settings has not been clear. Research in Dublin shows that urban politics is both similar and different from rural politics. The nature of party politics appears to be the same; a rural party activist would feel quite at home at a urban constituency meeting. However, urban politicians and activists have less contact with constituents than their rural counterparts. The converse is also true: urban constituents have less contact with politicians and activists than their rural counterparts. This raises an interesting question: if urban constituents are less likely to have personal links with politicians, what are the consequences for the clientelist behaviour that has been characteristic of rural politics? Do constituents learn that they can go directly to state bureaucrats, or do they continue to use politicians as brokers? The interesting answer is that they do neither. Instead, they continue to look for personal mediators or brokers, if those brokers are no longer politicians. The search for trusted intermediaries remains important, although the strategies of that search are different. This raises the general issue of personalism and trust being a feature of Dublin politics, for both middle-class and working-class individuals. Why should that be the case? In order to develop these points, this paper will first examine the daily activities of Dublin politicians, to illustrate the amount of constituency work that politicians engage in. Then, a short description of Dublin party politics provides evidence of the similarity between urban and rural party activities. However, there is a decrease in the amount of contact between politicians and voters in Dublin, as compared with rural Ireland. In this context, urban voters, like their rural counterparts, continue to look for advocates, but use different strategies and find different intermediaries or brokers. The class dimension of urban brokerage will be discussed and, finally, some general issues about Irish and urban politics will be addressed.

Let me begin by noting what will soon be obvious in any event -- the paper that follows has a strong polemic element. Anthropologists in Ireland are dispersed thinly, and this journal provides an opportunity to encourage debate and discussion of issues that might concern anthropologists who either study Ireland or reside in Ireland. Hopefully, this working paper will spark further discussion; it is certainly intended to do so!

The Information Society is expected to transform political relations in industrial societies, but the extent to which transformations have already taken place is often under-estimated. In the past, Irish politicians provided real or imagined patronage in exchange for the electoral support of citizens. The introduction of office information systems in the Irish civil service has lessened politicians' monopoly on administrative information. This increased public access to information has altered traditional politics in Ireland and enhanced democratic participation. However, any further changes should result from conscious policy decisions rather than as unplanned consequences of efficiency-driven IT investments.

In discussions about electronic and virtual communities, community can variously refer to a moral community, a normative community, a community of practice, an intentional community, or a proximate community. The concept of “community” is, itself, deemed unproblematic, and often is used in either a reductivist or ethnocentric manner. An exploration of nonindustrial foraging societies is used to illustrate the wide variation in types and definitions of communities that exists. Social groups in foraging societies exhibit characteristics similar to those observed in technologically mediated social groups, and these similarities illustrate the deficiencies of typological or ideal-type definitions of “community,” as well as the artificial nature of a division between “real” and “electronic” communities. Groups that depend on computer-mediated communication among members can, and should, be examined using the same social science concepts and methods used to examine any other social groups.

Paper documents are often described as 'information rich', in contrast with electronic documents. This ethnographic study examines Lotus NOTES in a sub-section of the Irish civil service, with particular reference to the concurrent use of electronic and paper documents. The sub-section examines disagreements with regard to claims by Irish citizens for particular government benefits. The study describes how meta-information contained in paper case files is perceived as necessary for the work of the organization, thus restricting the use of electronic case files in NOTES as a shared information system. However, this reliance on paper files derives not only from the information rich properties of paper documents, but also from the desire of some workers to protect their occupational status by defining, as necessary for their job, information which is only available in paper documents and which only they can interpret. This dependence on paper documents also reduces the amount of information that can be shared within the organization. This paper suggests that, only if the perceived threat posed by the information system were reduced in some way would user innovations in work practices and greater sharing of information within the organization become possible.

New information and communications technologies are expected to transform political systems as part of a move to an 'Information Society'. A Utopian view of this transformation is often reflected, not only by some who write about cyber-democracy, but also in government policy statements. For instance, in Europe, the 'Bangemann Report' (High Level Group on the Information Society, 1994) expected that the Information Society would lead to a "more efficient, transparent and responsive public services, closer to the citizen and at lower cost" in Europe. The High Level Expert Group on the Social and Societal Aspects of the Information Society (1996) noted that "ICTs create new opportunities for greater public participation in and awareness of the political process". Thus, new technologies are expected to improve political participation and administrative efficiency, as long as appropriate policy decisions are taken.

Knowledge is a fundamental aspect of the Information Society. The growth of 'knowledge management' in organisations is indicative of knowledge's new commodity value. Equally fundamental, in the Information Society, is the sharing of knowledge between people in different locations. Yet, increasing discussion of 'tacit knowledge', as well as knowledge management, indicates a realization that both the management and transfer of knowledge is a complex issue. Knowledge is embedded in social and cultural structures that may be place-dependent, and not easily replicated electronically. Culture, practice, and community are concepts which can usefully describe these structures in which knowledge is embedded. These structures must be successfully created and maintained electronically, if the Information Society vision of making distance irrelevant is to be fulfilled. In this paper, knowledge 'work' in organisations, especially organisations in a geographically peripheral society such as Ireland, will be discussed, exploring the embedded nature of knowledge in structures of place and space. Particular attention will be paid to the use of Lotus Notes, the premier groupware or CSCW system, as a means of sharing knowledge.

Communities and neighbourhoods are often perceived to be under threat in the information society, as technological developments accelerate economic and social change. Technological developments may also provide a solution: 'virtual communities'. There has been much debate about whether virtual communities can exist, but in the midst of such debates there has been little recognition that 'community' is a complex phenomenon. Many varieties of community exist, which can be categorised as moral, normative or proximate. Evidence suggests that some varieties of community can be constituted via electronic communication, but it is probably not possible to replicate those features of community that many people find lacking in modern life. Such a lack, and the desire for virtual communities as a response to that lack, are symptomatic of individuals' disengagement from social and political participation. If the process continues, this suggests an information society constituted by segmented diversity with isolated pockets of sociability.

Dublin is the capital city of Ireland, and is not only the largest in both population and size, but it is also the center for administrative, political, economic, and cultural activities in Ireland. It is also the main transportation link between Ireland and the rest of the world, with direct flights to numerous United States, British, and continental European cities. It is also linked, via ferries, with Great Britain, but remains the only member of the European Union without a direct rail or automobile link with other member states.

Social changes over the past fifty years have seemed to encourage people to live increasingly isolated lives. Since World War II, people have left their urban neighbourhoods to live in anonymous suburbs. They have moved locations as their employers expect them to work anywhere in the world. With new technologies, people can work from home, shop from home, bank from home, and even socialize from home. The common experiences that created bonds amongst people in the same place seems to be diminishing. Yet, human beings are social creatures; we want to live in webs of social interaction, even if we have to create them ourselves.

There has been an Information Revolution and we are either living in an Information Society or are about to enter an Information Society. At least, so proclaim newspaper and magazine articles, as well as television and radio programmes. Popular books describe the ‘death of distance’(Cairncross 1997) as well as the ‘third wave’ which is coming after the agricultural and industrial ‘waves’ (Toffler 1980), and newspapers and magazines are zealous in their discussion of new gadgets and the transformation (sometimes good and sometimes bad) that these technological marvels herald. Academic writers are less certain, with some arguing that current technologies are leading to economic and social transformation (Castells 1996; Poster 1990) while others (Schiller 1985; Wood 1997) argue that the Information Revolution is just the Industrial Revolution with a few new frills. Some have argued that new technologies will lead to freedom and empowerment (Bell 1973), while others have drawn attention to these technologies increasing the power of states or multinational corporations, at the expense of individuals (Lyon 2002; 1994; Lyon and Zureik 1996). This book is not intended to be an exhaustive or definitive discussion of the digital revolution or the Information Society, nor is it intended to proclaim or denounce the new Information Society. However, whether there is a new economic, political, and social order emerging, or not; whether the new order is beneficial or detrimental to citizens; all agree that significant changes are taking place. Often, however, it is as though we are all bystanders, watching change taking place, with very little public participation in the process. The central issue in this book is that technology, including the new information and communications technology linked with the Information Society, is not a force external to society and beyond the control of society; technology is an integral part of society and is acted upon and altered by social forces (Winner 1977; Williams 1974).

In recent chapters, discussion of the Digital Revolution and Information Society has moved from technology, economics, and politics to broader social issues such as rural development, life-long learning, and working from home. Such issues are crucial, since to lose sight of the social dimension is to reduce the Information Society to computers and the market. This is a social transformation - a transformation in the way people live, the way they relate to either other, and they way they perceive the world at large - or else it does not warrant the attention that it has received. How are individuals’ lives outside of work changing, and are these changes significant or superficial?

As a solution to declining political and civic participation, many governments are seeking to increase the number of citizens who participate in policy-making and governance. Contrary to early expectations, recent research suggests that new information and communications technologies (ICTs) may not increase participation rates in formal organisations, and so may not improve participation rates. The Mobhaile project in Ireland is an example of a local government initiative which combines service provision (‘e-government’) functions and facilities for voluntary, community and business organisations that enhance social capital in local communities, while also enabling civic participation functions (‘egovernance’), in a single web-based geographical interface. Such projects enable citizens to access government services and encourages them, as part of this process, to also participate in local activities that build social capital in the community. The resulting mix can be an effective basis for greater political and civic participation.