Key Questions
Underpinned by a ‘deep’ understanding of democracy, which is not limited to the formal features of liberal and (even more specifically, electoral) democracies but also encompasses the rights and values that democracies are committed to protect, the commission wants to provide answers to key questions related to democracies in the digital era:
What roles do digital technologies and practices play in the development of democracies across the globe? Which democratic values, rights, and practices are threatened by digital transformations? Conversely, how can digital practices strengthen democracies and democratic values? How are digital practices intertwined with analogue practices and institutions, including legacy media? How must democratic values be defended in the digital age, not only in practical but also in theoretical terms?
How does the transnational nature of digital transformations affect national democracies, but also non-democracies, especially electoral autocracies? How should academic analysis and policy making capture and respond to this? Specifically, what is and could be the role of supra-, trans- and international organisations and institutions in this process?
What practices, suggestions, and measures are suitable to strengthen democracies in the digital age? What can we learn from NGOs, practitioners, and other civil society actors regarding the use, and re-use, of data and digital tools in both the public and private domain? What roles can political parties play in this process?
What is the role of the law and of (fundamental) rights in steering and shaping digital technologies in a way that reduces the risks and harnesses the positive potentials of digital technologies? How do legal approaches in major world regions differ, and in how far do they succeed in reaching their goals?
methodological approaches and Activities
Due to the multidisciplinary composition of the commission, a wide range of methodological approaches will be used, including empirical social science research, legal inquiry, policy analysis, conceptual analysis, media analyses, and philosophical inquiry. The commission will collaborate with experts holding relevant expertise in economics for tasks where this is specifically relevant.
The Commission will carry out the following activities:
An interdisciplinary scoping exercise to identify challenges and opportunities emerging from digital practices in the context of contemporary democracies (with a view on what canbe learned also from and for selected non-democracies, e.g. electoral autocracies)
Expert workshops to map policy instruments and ‘best practices’ pertaining to measures to strengthen democracies in the digital age
Democracy Labs to complement desk-based research and evidence-based insights by the knowledge and experiences of civil society actors (activists, youth representatives, digital rights NGOs etc.) from several world regions