A future without the web is unthinkable, but whether the web threatens or strengthens democratic futures is something humans may still decide. Those who aspire to democratic futures are presented with new opportunities and several challenges to understanding how citizens and government understand their relationship with one another.
Political participation has shifted from traditional organisations to take in also new web-based activities. New communication technologies including social media offer to mobilise new constituencies but contain the threat of disseminating fake news, contributing to polarisation and new invidious forms of surveillance. The increased power of large international technology companies runs up against perceived loss of national sovereignty. Automation and the extension of the workplace into the private sphere may provide some benefits but threaten democratic rights won by collective bargaining. Gender, race, age, sexuality and other intersecting identities, social characteristics, and associated inequalities remain predictors of democratic (dis)engagement and inequalities that are reproduced, mediated, and challenged through the web.
How can we harness new technologies to future-proof democracy? How are threats to democracy best identified and what investigative strategies will ensure the resilience of democratic norms?
Democratic Futures supports research aimed at understanding and imagining how advances in automation, interaction and data-sharing can maintain or improve, rather than detract from inclusive, free and equal public spaces for work, play and learning.
The theme therefore invites research proposals that address one or more of the following:
Email: M.G.Ryan@soton.ac.uk