Democratic Innovations for a Polarized Digital Society
A special issue of Societies (ISSN 2075-4698).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2026 | Viewed by 21
Special Issue Editor
Interests: democratic innovation; social innovation; evaluation; collective intelligence; social capital; administrative burden; big data; machine learning; mixed-methods
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Digital technologies and social media platforms are reshaping how people communicate, share opinions, and engage with public issues. Every day, millions of users click, comment, like, and share content across multiple platforms. These tools offer new opportunities for civic engagement, but also expose people to like-minded views curated by algorithms, reinforcing bias and opinion polarization. Risks such as misinformation, deepfakes, cyberbullying, and digital divides further complicate inclusive participation.
However, focusing solely on technology risk overlooks deeper structural issues in society, politics, and governance (Bruns, 2021). In response, democratic innovations such as citizens’ assemblies, deliberative mini-publics, referenda, and participatory budgeting are being redesigned to address the challenges of a fragmented and polarized society. Increasingly, these models combine online and offline formats or blend deliberative and plebiscitary approaches for effective decision-making. Key questions remain—can these efforts genuinely bridge divides, empower civil society, and influence decision-making?
This Special Issue seeks contributions exploring how democratic innovations are adapted, tested, and reimagined in different contexts. Submissions may be theoretical, practical, or methodological, and may address either digital or offline environments. Studies examining conflict, division, or social fragmentation are also welcome.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Conceptual and theoretical studies
- Democratic innovations and related concepts (e.g., deliberation, resilience, digital activism, collective intelligence, social capital)
- Literature reviews on emerging themes
- Empirical research
- Case studies using qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods
- Hybrid models (e.g., online–offline formats, deliberative and plebiscitary approaches)
- Digital dynamics and challenges
- The role of artificial intelligence, disinformation, and polarization on civic engagement
- Organizational capacity to facilitate citizen participation
- Evaluation and methodology
- Evaluations of democratic innovations
- Methodological innovations for studying these phenomena
Dr. Bokyong Shin
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- democratic innovation
- citizen participation
- citizen engagement
- polarization
- platform
- hybridization
- social media
- collective intelligence
- artificial intelligence
- decision-making
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