Imagining New Futures for Democracy
When the modern form of democracy was created, messages traveled at the speed of a fast horse, and the philosophers and founders would never have imagined the ability of hundreds of millions to participate in civic dialogue in real time. Our institutions were built for a small group of people to gather together and talk in person, because that’s all that was possible at the time.
The ways in which we work, play, shop, order food, and even date has been transformed by technology - but our democratic institutions are still creations of the 18th Century. Meanwhile, it seems as though authoritarians around the world are innovating on the power of digital tools to suppress, surveil, censor, and spread disinformation.
NDI, CIPE, and IRI collaborated in a wide-ranging and experimental project to think about how democracy can tap the power and potential of these transformative digital tools to build more open, inclusive, collaborative, and responsive societies and governments.
Check it out - there’s a lot to consider.