Impact Which Technology Had On European Politics In The 20th Century (Research Paper Sample)

What Impact did Technology have on European Politics in the 20th Century? Student’s Name Institutional Affiliations Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of technology on European technology in the 20th Century. Technology has undergone tremendous advancement and the 20th century is one of the political eras that have been marked by numerous revolutions including technological and political revolutions. The paper is designed to look at the propositions that are associated with the technology which are critical towards understanding the impact of technology on the European Union. The technology proposition is a pre-requisite for having a better understanding of the technological influence on the politics of EU. These propositions are; technology can influence politics and that politics can influence technology, technology is power and finally that politics even if can influence technology it can only do so to a limited extent. The paper found that technology has greatly impacted on the politics in the European Union by determining the nature of the political decisions that are made. What Impact did Technology have on European Politics in the 20th Century? Introduction The world has experienced a global revolution in the technological industries. Technological advancement has had far-reaching implications to various fields including politics. Technology has advanced to a very great extent over the recent past from traditional means of communication and ways of doing things to the digital era of doing things. Businesses depend on technology for the greater parts of their success and so does technology and hence its relevance in this study. Industries also rely on the aspect of technology for their effective and efficient use of resources and production activities. The role of technology has extended to impact even the politics of the global world. Since the world war, one and two politics have undergone various changes and it has come to be highly dependent on the nature of technology. Politics in the European Union have undergone a significant revolution in the twentieth century and technology have played a great role in changing and influencing the politics of this country. Technology has a close relationship with each other and hence the need for critical analysis to identify the impacts of the technology in politics and specifically to the European Union. Consequently, analyzing the impacts of the technology in European politics in the 20th century reveals that technology has affected the ways candidates campaign during their political campaigns for election, have influenced the funding activities and The Propositions on the Influence of Technology on Politics There are various propositions or belief that people hold in relation to the impacts or influence of technology on the politics. These propositions are important to look at as they form the basis of understanding how technology impacts and influences on politics. These propositions are as discussed below. First, people believe that technology is power. Technology increases the alternatives of doing things to people. With technology, people can do things in a better way as compared to when they were doing things without technology. Therefore politicians tend to use technology at their disposal as a means to achieve their ends (political goals and objectives) (Zahn, 2017). With technology, the politicians have the power to do things that their opponents do not do and depending on the technology at the disposal of politicians it will determine the much power they have when doing some things (Zahn, 2017). According to Zahn (2017), different political arena or political persons have a different type of power and will, therefore, results to power imbalances. These power disparities can be used in politics to showcase the difference in political powers. Therefore the party with powerful technology is considered politically powerful and vice versa and hence the proposition that technology is power. Another belief or proposition is that progress in technology can only be controlled to some point. Advancement in technology is dependent on some prevailing factors. One of the contributing factors to development and progress in technology is the role of politics (Zahn, 2017). However, politics can only control politics on a limited basis for some reasons. First, technology is something that is well thought and planned for. Since it is something that is planned it is hard and not easy to control it; politics can only influence the direction of the technology. The technological effects are only visible after a long period of time. Due to this characteristics, there are so many uncertainties to deal with and with such uncertainties then politics may not to a great extent influence or impacts on the technology but rather technology will greatly influence and impacts on the nature of the politics (Zahn, 2017). In addition, political decisions are limited in scope and even in their implementation and hence they can hardly. For example, consider national laws that are passed to limit the development of a given technology, such a law is only applicable in the country in question. Another example is the development of nuclear technology which just shows how politics can only influence the technology to a small limited. Nuclear technology has been a point of focus for global politics and the technology defined the direction of politics in some countries such as in the US (Zahn, 2017). Therefore even though politics can only control and influence technology to a limited scale, it is not a guarantee that technology should not be controlled. The third proposition is that politics influences technology and technology influences politics. According to this proposition, politics can set goals and policies that require a certain technology to be used. Politics can thus influence the commencement of a certain technology. Similarly, politics can decide a certain technology cannot be used and can terminate its use. For example, most southern entries are against the use of genetically modified substance owing to health concerns (Zahn, 2017). On the other hand, technology can play a great role in influencing politics. Technologies can directly or indirectly trigger issues that need political interventions to be solved. A good example is the use of nuclear energy by some countries which has led to political tensions around the globe. Many countries are concerned about the use of nuclear technology due to the enormous effect of the nuclear technology (Zahn, 2017). Such technologies have played a great role in defining the political agendas of some countries such as the United States and Korea countries. In addition, technology can impact politics as a process. Technology presents politicians with new ways of presenting their ideas. People do use technology also to determine the level of transparency of their politicians. Finally, technology also influences politics by introducing new actors in the political process. Therefore either technology can influence politics or politics can as well influence technology. From the above propositions, the general conclusion is that politics and technology are highly interrelated and hence the need to look at how technology has impacted on the politics in the European Union. Technological Impacts on the Politics of European Union in the 20th Century The twentieth century is one of the centuries that have seen a tremendous growth and development in technological avenues. In this century politics have also taken a completely new dimension and technology have played a very great role in influencing and determining the nature of the political environment in the European Union. The following are some of the impacts that technology has had on the Politics of the European Union. Technology has impacted on the nature of the fundraising to be used. Fundraising for politicians is one of the greatest issues of concern all politicians as they require finances to fund their political activities. There is thus the urge to create a response to the whole target area or region. To cover the whole of the target region requires financing issues that politicians have to seriously think about it. One of the modern technological avenue in the 20th century of funding and fundraising for such activities is through the use of the internet. Many politicians have taken it to social media platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp to mobilize for funds to be used during the campaign periods. Through digital marketing in such platforms, the candidates get a lot of well-wishers who donates a lot of finances t be used in the campaign periods. Digital media for marketing and publicity is cheaper as compared to the print media because in digital media politicians do not need to republish the content (Zahn, 2017). However, the use of Facebook and WhatsApp for digital marketing has steered a heated debate across Europe with politicians questioning on the role of the Facebook in Europe. This has resulted to a political attitude in Europe where politicians feel that there is need to review the role of such technology giants like Facebook and WhatsApp as in various occasions they have been found guilty of breaking some social laws like that concerning the privacy of the users. Over the last few decades, gaining political publicity in Europe has become an easier task. Technology has presented with technological avenues and devices that are so accessible to many. The rise of mass communication has shaped the nature of politics in the way politicians are using technology to gain publicity (Zahn, 2017). Initially, in Europe, there were no billboards, no publicity jingles, no political trademarks, and no magazines readers and there were ineffective means of communication between the politicians and the target audience. Munkler, (2014) asserts that 20t...