Democracy Models and Civic Technologies: Tensions, Trilemmas, and Trade-offs

TL;DR

This paper explores the theoretical tensions in democracy and how civic technologies can address or exacerbate these issues, proposing a meso-level framework to analyze their interplay.

Contribution

It connects democratic theory with civic technologies, highlighting trade-offs and proposing a meso-level approach to understand their interactions.

Findings

Identifies key tensions and trilemmas in democratic theory.

Analyzes the role and limitations of civic technologies.

Proposes a meso-level framework for analysis.

Abstract

This paper aims at connecting democratic theory with civic technologies in order to highlight the links between some theoretical tensions and trilemmas and design trade-offs. First, it reviews some tensions and trilemmas raised by political philosophers and democratic theorists. Second, it considers both the role and the limitations of civic technologies in mitigating these tensions and trilemmas. Third, it proposes to adopt a meso-level approach, in between the macro-level of democratic theories and the micro-level of tools, to situate the interplay between people, digital technologies, and data.