Democracy 2030: what should it look like?
Channel: Access Now
Date: 2020-07-28

In conversation with Audrey Tang, Digital Minister of Taiwan; Nanjala Nyabola, political analyst and author, Digital Democracy, Analogue Politics; and facilitator Amy Studdart, Senior Advisor for Digital Democracy, International Republican Institute.   

Democracy is, by design, deliberative and risk-averse. Advanced democracies are advanced precisely because their structures and systems cannot be easily changed on-the-basis of whims. In an age of rapid technological process, those features can seem like bugs. While we had believed the internet would be an inherently democratizing force, we now fear that it might be precisely the tool that authoritarians need to exercise the comprehensive control that pre-digital dictators could only dream of. But, if we go back to first principles, the internet – embraced in the right way and with the right structures put in place around it – should still be a boon for democracy. It allows for rapid, easy, citizen engagement; comprehensive deliberation; government transparency; and easier civic organization and engagement. If we had a blank page, how would we design the democratic system of 2030? What would the principles be? If, instead of trying to build digital into existing structures, we created new structures that were digitally native, what would they look like? And how do we get there?  

Host: International Republican Institute