Labs of the World Forum for Democracy 2017

The lab will explore the effectiveness of e-participatory tools and their impact on decision-making, within the existing constitutional framework of representative democracy.

The lab will look into alternative voting rules and systems and explore their potential impact on voter turnout.

The lab will look into examples of participatory democracy to identify the best ways to involve citizens in  political decision-making processes.

The lab will consider the attractiveness of political parties and movements that are based on different forms of participatory democracy and will explore opportunities for traditional parties to transform themselves and develop new political narratives enhancing citizens’ trust in policy making.

The lab will examine the detrimental effects of social media filter bubbles and algorithms and will explore solutions to make readers more aware of their reading habits and help them to integrate different worldviews.

The lab will consider the impact of citizens’ monitoring initiatives on corruption and their potential influence on tackling populist trends through strengthening the integrity of, and trust in parliamentarians and other elected officials. 

The lab will look into examples of fact checking methodologies to identify most effective approaches in cracking down fake stories.

The lab will explore the role of arts and culture in shaping political ethics and values and their impact on generating social and political change.

The lab will discuss the threat populism represents to public service media and how can international standards protect these media.

The lab will debate how big data affects democracy and how citizens can be made aware of their possible misuses. It will also explore possible regulations to secure privacy rights online. 

Citizenship education, defined as educating people to become clear-thinking and enlightened citizens who participate in decisions concerning society, is considered a lever to prevent populist upsurges. However, even societies that have invested considerably into citizenship education, were hit by the populist phenomenon.  Therefore, this lab will focus on the way Germany’s political foundations have responded and do respond to the populist upsurge in the country.