Democratic political systems are a recent innovation in historical terms. They had a brief existence in Greece and Rome, and re-emerged in the 18th century, less than 200 years ago.

Mass democracy went hand in hand with industrialism.

As Alvin Toffler said: "is the political expression of mass production, mass distribution, mass consumption, mass education, mass media, mass entertainment, and all the rest."

Now that information technology is displacing mass production, it is logical to expect the decline of mass democracy.

The crucial megapolitical imperative that made mass democracy triumph during the Industrial Age has disappeared.

Mass democracy is incompatible with the information age.

A moment's reflection shows that the technology of the information age is not inherently a mass technology.

In military terms, it opens up the potential for "smart weapons" and "Information Warfare," in which "logic bombs" could sabotage centralized command and control systems.