ABSTRACT
Today the collaborative possibilities afforded by an interconnected world are transforming the way organisations operate. The new approach has already reached the world of politics. In the Democratic presidential primary campaign of 2008, Barack Obama became what The New York Times described as ‘ the fi rst real “ wiki-candidate ” ’ , with an online fundraising operation that operated in much the same way as social networking sites like MySpace or YouTube. 1
‘ What’s amazing ’ , says Peter Leyden, director of the New Politics Institute, a California-based think tank, ‘ is that Hillary built the best campaign that has ever been done in Democratic politics on the old model – she raised more money than anyone before her, she locked down all the party stalwarts, she assembled an all-star team of consultants and she really mastered this topdown, command-and-control type of outfi t. And yet she’s getting beaten by this political start-up that is essentially a totally different model of the new politics ’ .2
