Exploring Digital Democratic Innovations

Abstract

Political parties such as Podemos are experimenting with digital platforms to more effectively engage members in discussion and decision making. Public authorities, such as the Taiwanese government, are institutionalizing the use of argument visualization platforms such as Pol.is in their policy making process. At the same time, scandals around data usage on social media platforms bring into question the democratic potential of online spaces. While experimentation explodes, democratic theory and empirical political science has been relatively slow to react. The role of the digital in designing and implementing democratic innovations is underexplored within academic circles. This panel aims to refocus attention on fundamental questions raised by digital democratic innovation. To what extent do digital platforms recast inclusions and exclusions? How do they challenging or reinforcing polarisation and misinformation? Do we need to rethink our standard analytical categories for judging the democratic characteristics of emerging digital designs? Are our existing theories of democracy adequate for capturing the digital?