The Impact of Technology on the Democratic Statecraft - Thesis Example

A society where citizens from the seven Emiratis are able to hear and listen to each other have a public voice on the very agenda and policy that affect their lives and have resounding contributions toward the resolution of problems they face. Krishnan et al. (2017) support these assertions noting that Article 6 as instituted to be a law regulates the proliferation of information that would erode the cultural order and at the same time, provide an avenue where different levels of government in UAE can engage with the public so that the whole process develop e-democracy mechanisms. These arguments point to the fact the UAE government through TRA has enacted laws that understand that citizens are armed with the tools that help them have a direct influence on legislative as well as policy development. In summary, studies have supported the fact this law came into effect to create what they term a ‘Citizen-based electronic democracy’ to create online public spaces that would help them interact and engage with the government.

On the other hand, this law has been criticized as oppressive towards the realization of technological engagement with the government. For instance, in 2016, the UAE president cited Article 6 while issuing different limitations on how members of the public could use technology to engage with the government (Yaghi & Alibeli 2017). In particular, Yaghi and Alibeli (2017) cite a move where the president forbade anyone within its territory from making use of his or her virtual private networks (VPN). This move is argued to have provided limitations on the platform or technology members of the public could use to reach the government. Under this directive, the government warned that anyone breaching the directive would be fined between Dh500, 000 and Dh2, 000,000 (Agostini et al. 2016).