A Meeting On Cyber Insecurity

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Information is the most delicate and the center of every event and development on earth.
Information technology experts believe that provision of security to information is the foundation
for success. Data in various sectors of the government needs adequate protection and should only
be released or accessed by relevant people at the required time and place. IT officials from the
government give cyber security the top priority among the issues of their contention.
This paper describes the meeting held to discuss the problem of cyber insecurity in the United
States, how it has affected the people, governance system, and possible solutions to end the
problem. The meeting was conducted based on the Robert Dahl three criteria of democracy
namely Inclusion, Effective participation and Enlightened understanding.
Inclusiveness
According to this criterion, a democratic process must be provided to all human beings; no
citizen should be sidelined in any of the processes (Andrien, Mathew 2014). In regards to the
problem of cyber insecurity which was the subject of discussion, this criterion was supported by
the fact that every citizen was to be included in the process of fighting the problem.
Data was collected from various sector of government offices and causes of cyber insecurity
established through a joint team. To arrive at the suggested solutions to the problem,
contributions from all members of the meeting were heard, and each and every member present
was allowed equal opportunity to give their views and possible solutions to issue at hand.
The criterion was applied in establishing the main causes of the problem in the state where
research was conducted before the meeting. A democratic process was enabled in the data
collection, and every citizen is given equal chances of participation.

Effective participation
This criterion states that members of the state or citizens must have the ability and the
opportunity to ask questions, provide suggestions, give reasoning of preferred outcome over the
other, and indicate preferences that can be found on the political agenda (Dahl 2015). The
meeting ensured this criterion is applied in discussing the cyber insecurity which has emerged as
a significant threat to our information systems. Members were given fair chances of asking
questions related to the topic of discussion; their suggestions were welcomed also allows the
opportunity to reason out what their thoughts are.
It was through effective participation that every citizen was given the opportunity to give their
views on the topic. They proposed measures to be undertaken by the government to ensure
critical data are kept safe and away from the public. Members participation was prioritized since
the process was made a democratic one without any elements of dictatorship regarding speech
limitation provided one remained within the topic of discussion.
Enlightened understanding
This is the Robert Dahl third criterion of a democratic process, and it states that members of state
should not be told what the best is for them and never be indoctrinated on what choices they
should make. The members of the democracy should learn and understand the options available
to them and make a decision on the idea which best serves their interest and need (Dahl,1972)
This criterion enables citizens to discover and select choices that best fit their needs. No
opportunity is granted to a third party to provide any assistance in choice making. Members are
left free to decide on their own and are only guided by their understanding and preferences.

The rational understanding was considered in the meeting to discuss the cyber insecurity in the
state. No solutions were brought before the members for discussion but rather members had the
opportunity to analyze the problem and understand the side effects it brings to the society and
after that provide solutions based their political agenda which is the requirement of democracy.

Achieving a truly democratic process even in the more advanced states has been a great
challenge over the years. Dictatorship approach of governance is still witnessed in most parts of
the world while others have made excellent steps democratically. This paper as discussed has
evaluated Robert Dahl three criteria of a democratic process about a meeting held to discuss the
issue of cyber insecurity. It shown that throughout the discussion, democracy formed the key
point and members participation, inclusion and understanding of the agenda were given high
considerations. Even though acquiring pure democratic environment might be a challenge, the
move should be geared towards democratic governance.

References
Dahl, Robert Alan. Democracy and its Critics. Yale University Press, 1989.
Dahl, Robert Alan. Dilemmas of pluralist democracy: Autonomy vs. control. Vol. 31. Yale
University Press, 1982.
Rodrigues, Adrien; Lloyd-Thomas, Matthew . "Dahl's Legacy Remembered". Yale Daily News.
2014
Dahl, Robert A. "A democratic dilemma: system effectiveness versus citizen
participation." Political science quarterly 109, no. 1 (1994): 23-34.
Dahl, Robert A. "Democracy in the United States: Promise and performance." (1976).