Digital Technology and Democratic Theory

Digital Technology and Democratic Theory is a three-part workshop series and book project led by Rob Reich and Lucy Bernholz at the Digital Civil Society Lab, Margaret Levi at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and Helene Landemore at Yale University.

This project will explore and synthesize timely themes including civic technology, politics and civil society, and digital technology as a site of democratic politics. Participants will consider a wide range of questions including:

• What role does information play in democratic life?
• How are digital technologies influencing democratic governance?
• Can democratic values serve as design principles for digital technology?
• In what ways can democracy be reconceptualized in light of technological change?
• What can we learn from previous technology eras, and from earlier applications of technology to governance?
• How can we think about algorithms in democracies?

Each member of the workshop cohort will contribute to developing an analytical framework for digital technology in relation to democratic institutions, and will author or co-author a chapter to the final published scholarly volume.

Partners

Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences