Institute For The Future

Tech + Democracy: Perspectives from Argentina, Georgia, Kenya + the Czech Republic

What if you could not only vote for a politician, but against them? What if your elected representative had a way of engaging in continuous dialogue on issues with the public throughout the year, rather than just during elections? In many ways, these opportunities for new public political discourse are already underway. Organizations like Democracy OS and Democracy 2.1 are cropping up to help bring digital technology, platform efficiency, transparency and openness to the bureaucratic infrastructures of politics.

But we are just at the beginning of integrating technology and innovation into our democratic lives, and not all countries are taking advantage of these innovations equally. Frequently the societies poised at the forefront of such innovation are often those that have the ability to “leapfrog” older legacy systems that no longer serve their purpose.

For this reason, on Wednesday February 18th, IFTF co-hosted a day-long symposium with the National Democratic Institute (NDI) on Leadership in the Digital Economy with a delegation of 22 parliamentarians from Colombia, Georgia, Ghana, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Kosovo, Nepal, Peru, Serbia, and Tunisia.

Together, these lawmakers debated the opportunities, barriers, and their own stories of moving democracy forward with new processes and tools. The day was capped-off by a public evening event where IFTF’s Bettina Warburg moderated a panel about the future of democracy.

This panel featured:

• Pia Mancini (@piamancini) of DemocracyOS from Buneos Aires (currently at Y Combinator) spoke about growing a culture of participation.
• Lex Paulson of Democracy 2.1 talked about his desire to change not what people vote for but how they vote.
• Honorable Johnson Arthur Sakaja (@SakajaJohnson), Member, Parliament of Kenya spoke about lowering the age allowable for the president by 20 years, and the use of social media in Kenyan politics.
• Honorable Tinatin Khidasheli (@tinakhidasheli), Member, Parliament of Georgia highlighted the need for concern over extremism during political turmoil.