The state must find new ways to assert its authority online
In 1919, Max Weber delivered a lecture titled “Politics as a Vocation," in which he argued for the first time that the state has a monopoly over the use of physical force. He was looking for a way to justify the state’s use of force and chose to do so by elevating it to the level of a crucial feature of the social contract. In those days, authority was manifest through tangible expressions of control—institutions like the police and military, and coercive constructs like laws and regulations.
The state’s ability to wield this power came to be seen as essential to the maintenance of public order and necessary for the protection of its people. Over a century has passed since Weber first presented this thesis in 1919. In that time, our world has so dramatically de-materialized that almost all our interactions today take place within the digital realm.
Not only has this fundamentally changed the way individuals interact with each other, it has given rise to new behaviours, the establishment of new marketplaces, and the rise of new loci of political power. Given how significantly things have changed, it is probably worth evaluating whether or not Weber’s theory still holds true. Today, our activities in the digital sphere are intermediated by technology platforms—social media applications, e-commerce sites and digital media services—all of which are owned by Big Tech companies.
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