Key skills in and for digital democracy
Democracy and digitalization: a tense relationship
Digitalization influences democracy in many different ways. On the one hand, social networks promote anti-democratic tendencies such as hate comments, shit storms, fake news and conspiracy theories that polarize the political debate. Filter algorithms and AI applications reinforce these dynamics. On the other hand, digital participation approaches offer the opportunity to compensate for the weaknesses of representative democracy. Projects such as the Conference on the Future of Europe show how digital democracy can activate tens of thousands of citizens and involve them in the legislative process.
With this project, we are creating a program at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) that enables students to develop key skills in the field of digital democracy. At the same time, a platform is growing here on which projects and expertise at KIT are bundled and made visible.
We are putting digital democracy in the spotlight!
Alexa M. Kunz is addressing this question together with other experts from science and business as part of the Future Skills 2030 task force. The committee was convened by the Donors' Association for the Promotion of Sciences and Humanities in Germany with the aim of updating its current framework on Future Skills. The topic of "democratic culture" and the associated educational mandate for universities play an important role in the development of the new framework.
To the Alliance for Future Skills
What do digitalization and democracy have in common? With "Digital Democracy" (Digi D), a project aims to create the opportunity to deal intensively with the challenges and opportunities of digital democracy - the "Digital Democracy Camp" (DDC) took place on 23.5.25 and offered an opportunity to make a difference together on site.
Read moreProjects at KIT
There are numerous experts in the field of digital democracy at KIT. Click here for their projects:
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Christian Seidel from the Department of Philosophy examines how state surveillance can be reconciled with democracy.
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The project investigates how Large Language Models can strengthen deliberative culture. What opportunities do these technologies offer to improve democratic practice?
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Resources
Here you will find publicly accessible educational resources on the topic of (digital) democracy:
E-participation, open government and online elections
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This paper outlines a long-term scientific vision for digital democracy. It is to be developed in a democratically sound manner through comprehensive research.
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The politics podcast from Berlin with Philip Banse and Ulf Buermeyer
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