Webinar in February 2025

Building Trust with Digital Democratic Innovations (February 12, 2025)

In this TRUEDEM webinar, Anna Mikhaylovskaya (University of Groningen, the Netherlands) examines the role of Digital Democratic Innovations (DDIs) for political trust building. DDIs  have largely been conceived of, by the academic community, as a possible solution to the crisis of representative democracy. DDIs can be defined as initiatives or institutions designed with the goal of deepening citizens’ participation and influence on political decisions through the use of digital tools and platforms. There is a hope that DDIs (as well as usual, non-digital DIs) could help nurture political trust in governing institutions. Yet the vast majority of research on trust and DDIs/DIs focuses only on one side of political trust – the trust of citizens vis-à-vis government. What has largely been ignored, however, is the trust of decision-makers towards citizen participation and its outcomes. The authors contend that political trust should be seen as a two-sided relationship that implies reciprocity. Therefore, the authors claim that it is necessary to design DDIs in such a way that they generate political trust from both common citizens and decision-makers. Citizens must trust institutions and processes implemented by the ones in power, and decision-makers must trust the input of citizens’ participatory processes. The authors argue that transparency is crucial when it comes to fostering reciprocal trust, and we identify the necessary elements to achieve it via DDIs [Read full article text].

Anna Mikhaylovskaya is a PhD candidate at the University of Groningen's Campus Fryslân, the Netherlands. Her research focuses on digital democratic innovations and their potential to enhance citizen participation, deliberation, and influence in political decision-making. She aims to identify shortcomings in current digital participation systems to make democratic innovations more inclusive, deliberative, and empowering. Anna has co-authored publications such as "Building Trust with Digital Democratic Innovations" and "Enhancing Deliberation with Digital Democratic Innovations," which explore the role of digital tools in fostering trust and improving deliberative processes in democratic settings. Her expertise spans political theory, digital humanities, and global and local governance.