Democratic Innovations

In this episode, we explore democratic innovations in Latin America with Yanina Welp, a researcher at the University of Girona (Spain) and the Geneva Graduate Institute, and Melisa Ross, a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute. Together, we examine this field from a less Western-centric perspective. We aim not only to assess whether Latin America truly functions as a global democracy laboratory, but also to uncover why mainstream scholarship too often fails to recognise its role.

In this episode, we focus on the role that technological solutions have in the field of democratic innovations and democracy in a broader sense. Together with Tiago Peixoto, political scientist and Senior Governance Specialist at the World Bank, and Álvaro Oleart, postdoctoral researcher at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, we critically address many aspects of the use of technological devices for participatory deliberative initiatives and reflect on the controversial role of AI and its funders.

In this episode, we focus on the role that grassroots forces have in shaping democratic innovations. Together with Donatella della Porta, Professor of Political Science, founding dean of the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, and Director of the PhD programme in Political Science and Sociology at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Florence, and Andrea Felicetti, Assistant Professor at the University of Padua, we discuss horizons for democratisation through the action of movements and civil society organisations.

In this episode, we raise critical questions about the political landscape within which democratic innovations are expected to improve our democracies. Together with Petra Guasti, Associate Professor of Democratic Theory at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University in Prague, we focus on the growth of political polarisation and populism, and on the implications of illiberal values for inclusive participation.

In this episode, we move toward an understanding of democratic innovations from the perspective of critical political economy. Together with Adrian Bua, researcher at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, we highlight the structural power dynamics that inevitably shape citizen engagement within the political system and society more broadly.