Technocracy: Difference between revisions

This article pertains to a technocracy as a bureaucratic structure. For other uses of the term, see Technocracy (disambiguation).

Part of the Politics series
Basic forms of government
List of forms of government List of countries by system of government
Source of power Democracy (rule by many) Demarchy Direct Economic Liberal Representative Social Socialist Others Oligarchy (rule by few) Anocracy Aristocracy Gerontocracy Kleptocracy Kritarchy Meritocracy Noocracy Particracy Plutocracy Stratocracy Technocracy Theocracy Autocracy (rule by one) Despotism Dictatorship Military dictatorship Tyranny Anarchy (rule by none) Anarchism Free association Stateless
Power ideology Monarchy Republic (socio-political ideologies) Absolute Communist Constitutional Directorial Legalist Parliamentary Presidential Semi-presidential Authoritarian Libertarian (socio-economic ideologies) Anarchism Colonialism Communism Despotism Distributism Fascism Feudalism Socialism Totalitarianism Tribalism Religious Secular State religion Secular state Separation of church and state State atheism Global Local (geo-cultural ideologies) City-state Intergovernmental organisation National government World government Nationalism Internationalism Globalism
Power structure Unitarism Unitary state Empire Principality Client state Associated state Dependent territory Dominion Protectorate Puppet state Puppet monarch Satellite state Self-governing colony Tributary state Buffer state Vassal state Viceroyalty Federalism Confederation Devolution Federation Superstate Supranational union International relations Small power Regional power Middle power Great power Superpower
Related Administrative division Democracy indices Democratic transition Autocratization Democratisation Hybrid regimes
Politics portal
v t e

Technocracy ("techno" for technology and "cracy" for "power") is an organizational system in which decision makers and political leaders are selected on the basis of technological knowledge —often because of some conflict or competition where technological escalation is a constant feature.

The term was coined in 1919 by American engineer W.H. Smith. It came into common usage through management theorist James Burnham's 1941 work Managerial Revolution. The term became widely used to describe politics and now generally refers to an elite who governs through use of technology/technological prowess.

The situation usually described is one in which the elite are selected through bureaucratic processes on the basis of specialized knowledge, rather than through democratic or other processes. Technocracy is often thought of as 'rule by scientists and engineers,' or bringing these groups into power. The term may be either positive or negative. Typically a "technocracy" is a form of de facto elitism, whereby the concepts of "most qualified" and a ruling elite tend to be the same.

The general term has been applied to a number of governments, most notably Singapore and the current government of the People's Republic of China.

One essential criticism of technocracy is that many governmental decisions are not technical, but political in essence. A technical decision is one that may be reached through know-how, expertise and experience, using rational arguments. A political decision is one that reflects some subjective choices, for instance regarding human values, or some choice regarding some very uncertain future.

For instance, a technocrat may follow neoclassical economics and decide that some factory is not economically efficient and thus that it should be closed. Still, closing this factory will result in a local social disaster, with many people forced out of jobs and the usual consequences. A political decision will have to take human distress into account.

Also, technocrats may focus on their particular area of expertise, whereas many governmental decisions have to approach matters from different points of view. An environment technocrat may seek to limit pollutants, while one overseeing industry may seek fewer restrictions on pollutant emissions. The problem is that each technocrat seeks to optimize efficiency in his particular field of expertise. Political arbitration then has to be brought in.

Finally, technocracy lacks popular sovereignty. Democratic governments govern in the name of the people, and the people may influence their decisions. Technocracy in its purest form is a variant on the old theme of oligarchy. Even without the assumption that popular sovereignty is good, technocracy, like all oligarchies, has tendencies to derive into a self-promoting regime that disregards the objectives that it was supposed to seek.

It has been argued that a constant progression to a more technocratic society is inevitable as many issues have become too complex for most people to easily grasp. Thus, as a theory of civics, it may be that technocracy opposes democracy, which assumes that almost no issues are in fact too complex for most people to grasp. For those who support democracy and oppose technocracy, the increasing complexity of the modern world requires the introduction of increasingly better forms of public education in order to keep the population informed and able to deal with complex issues. An educated population is considered to be the basis of an effective democracy.

A form of government that combines elements of democracy and technocracy is anticipatory democracy, which relies on prediction markets and other such somewhat inclusive means to find the most accurate predictors of scientific and technological trends.

Socialism calls for an economic system based on production for the needs of all of society, with the goal of advancing quality of life for all in an environment of social equality and respect for workers. From this standpoint, opinions are split among socialists as to whether it would be possible for technocracy and socialism to work in concert or whether they are fundamentally opposed. Those who believe that technocracy and socialism can cooperate argue that a body of highly skilled scientists and engineers would be most able to act as economic planners and manage the economy for the benefit of all. A majority of socialists, however, take a more skeptical view and argue that no matter how skilled those technocrats may be, they will always serve their own interests rather than the interests of society as long as they are not placed under democratic control. Thus, most socialists oppose technocracy on the grounds that it is undemocratic and any undemocratic form of government cannot work for the common good.

Technocracy can also refer to a system of governance in which laws are enforced by designing the system such that it is impossible to break them. For instance, to prevent people from riding the trolley without paying, you could simply design the trolley cars so that no one can hop on without first inserting payment into a slot which causes the door to open.

The same idea can be applied on much larger scales, with automated public surveillance by semi-intelligent systems that automatically control or limit the actions of individuals to prevent illegal activity. This is called the carceral state, in which the whole state is effectively a Panopticon - a prison with strict rules, where all individuals are supervised to ensure compliance. Author Charles Stross called this a Panopticon Singularity. In this way, the bureaucratic form of technocracy may be an authoritarian system governance.

The principles of anticipatory design, wayfinding, and B. F. Skinner's vision Walden Two, to some degree echo this potential, but relying on psychology and conditioning exclusively, and not on any intrusive technology to enforce the rules.

• Forms of government
• Groupe X-Crise, formed by French former students of the Ecole Polytechnique engineer school in the 1930s
• Meritocracy
• Technocratic movement, a US group formed in the 1930s
• Totalitarianism
• New class