What is and how do we achieve a resilient digital democracy?
Authors/Creators
- 1. Paderborn University Department of Media Studies, Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia, 33098, Germany
Description
This paper develops a new concept and framework for understanding resilient digital democracy in an age defined by polarisation, cascading crises, and the global rise of digital authoritarianism. It begins by tracing the concept of resilience from systems theory to social and political life, showing that resilience in democracy is not a mechanical property of systems but a dynamic, human-driven practice grounded in agency, resistance, and collective self-determination. The paper argues that with emerging challenges in the digital sphere, such as misinformation, surveillance capitalism, platform monopolies, deepfakes, and hybrid warfare, democracy can only endure if its digital dimensions are protected and transformed. Building on this foundation, the paper introduces a holistic approach to resilient digital democracy that spans environmental, technological, economic, political, and cultural domains, and advances strategies such as public-commons digital infrastructures, platform co-operatives, public service Internet platforms, free/libre open source software (FLOSS), participatory innovations, and hybrid offline/online democratic practices. The result is a fresh, interdisciplinary vision of how democracy can be reinvented in the digital age.
The article asks how democracy can survive in a digital world full of crises, lies, hate, and growing authoritarianism. It says resilience is not a magic system feature, but something people actively build by resisting attacks on democracy and creating fairer rules and institutions.
Digital tools can strengthen democracy – for example through online participation, petitions, citizen assemblies, and protests – but they can also harm it via surveillance, platform monopolies, fake news, deepfakes, and hate speech.
• The author argues that resilient digital democracy needs:
• secure, environmentally sustainable digital infrastructures
• strong laws and protections for rights and privacy
• more citizen participation and debate, combining online and offline spaces
• independent, non-profit digital platforms, co-operatives, and open-source software instead of Big Tech control
• fact-checking and education to spot manipulation.
Overall, a resilient digital democracy uses technology to share power, protect rights, and support active, informed citizens.
Files
openreseurope-5-24931.pdf
Files
(406.8 kB)
| Name | Size | Download all |
|---|---|---|
|
md5:263cf740cb1c2215fe3b5b4f360a1f17
|
406.8 kB | Preview Download |
Additional details
References
- Adorno TW (1975). Soziologische Schriften.
- Amlinger C, Nachtwey O (2025). Zerstörungslust: elemente des demokratischen faschismus.
- Arendt H (1951/1973). The Origins of Totalitarianism.
- Arendt H (1970). On Violence.
- Aristotle , Lord C (2013). Politics.
- Banaji S (2024). Against resilience: the (Anti-)ethics of participation in an unjust and unequal public sphere. Javn. - Public. doi:10.1080/13183222.2024.2311012
- Barojan D, Jayakumar S, Ang B, Anwar ND (2021). Disinformation and Fake News. doi:10.1007/978-981-15-5876-4_5
- Benkler Y, Faris R, Roberts H (2018). Manipulation, Disinformation, and Radicalization in American Politics.
- Boese VA, Edgell AB, Hellmeier S (2021). How democracies prevail: democratic resilience as a two-stage process. Democratization. doi:10.1080/13510347.2021.1891413
- Boh W, Constantinides P, Padmanabhan B (2023). Building digital resilience against major shocks. MIS Q.
- Burnell P, Calvert P (1999). The resilience of democracy: an introduction. Democratization. doi:10.1080/13510349908403594
- Chandler D (2014). Resilience. The governance of complexity. doi:10.4324/9781315773810
- Croissant A, Lott L (2025). Democratic resilience in the twenty-first century: search for an analytical framework and explorative analysis. Polit Stud. doi:10.1177/00323217251345779
- (2025). Democracy Report 2025. 25 Years of Autocratization – Democracy Trumped?.
- Dreyfus H (1986). Mind Over Machine. The Power of Human Intuition and Expertise in the Era of the Computer.
- Eley G (2015). Fascism then and now. Socialist Register.
- Elstub S, Escobar O, Elstub S, Escobar O (2019). Handbook of Democratic Innovation and Governance. doi:10.4337/9781786433862.00009
- (2025). European democracy shield: empowering strong and resilient democracies.
- Frischlich L, Humprecht E (2021). Trust, democratic resilience, and the infodemic.
- Fromm E (1936/2020). Studies on Authority and Family. Sociopsychological Dimensions. Fromm Forum.
- Fromm E (1973/1997). The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness.
- Fuchs C (2017). The Relevance of Franz L. Neumann's Critical Theory in 2017: "Anxiety and Politics" in the New Age of Authoritarian Capitalism. tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique. doi:10.31269/triplec.v15i2.903
- Fuchs C (2020). Communication and capitalism: a critical theory. doi:10.16997/book45
- Fuchs C (2025a). Antonio Negri, Spinoza, Marx, and digital capitalism. Philosophy and Social Criticism, Online First. doi:10.1177/01914537241308108
- Fuchs C, Fuchs C (2025b). Interdisciplinary Knowledge Base on Digital Democracy: INNOVADE: Innovative Democracy Through Digitalisation Deliverable 2.1 (Draft).
- Fuchs C (2022a). Digital Fascism.
- Fuchs C (2022b). Digital Humanism. A Philosophy for 21 Century Digital Society.
- Fuchs C (2024). Social media: a critical introduction.
- Giddens A (1984). The constitution of society: outline of the theory of structuration.
- Habermas J (1996). Between Facts and Norms. Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy.
- Habermas J (1989). The structural transformation of the public sphere.
- Habermas J (1987). The theory of communicative action.
- Hennen L, Van Keulen I, Korthagen I (2020). European E-democracy in practice. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-27184-8
- Hofkirchner W (2006). Proceedings of the XVI World Congress of Sociology.
- Hofkirchner W (2002). Projekt eine welt: kognition-kommunikation-kooperation: versuch über die selbstorganisation der informationsgesellschaft.
- Hofkirchner W (2023). The logic of the third.
- Holling CS (1973). Resilience and stability of ecological systems. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. doi:10.1146/annurev.es.04.110173.000245
- Holloway J, Manwaring R (2023). How well does 'resilience' apply to democracy? A systematic review. Contemp. Polit. doi:10.1080/13569775.2022.2069312
- Horkheimer M (1936/1987). Studien über Autorität und Familie.
- Horkheimer M, Bronner SE, Kellner D (1939/1989). Critical Theory and Society: A Reader.
- Horkheimer M, Adorno TW (2002). Dialectic of Enlightenment. Philosophical Fragments.
- (2017). The global state of democracy: exploring democracy's resilience.
- (2025). The Global State of Democracy 2025: Democracy on the Move.
- Kaufmann M, Chandler D, Coaffee J (2017). The Routledge Handbook of International Resilience.
- Lührmann A, Lindberg SI (2019). A Third Wave of Autocratization is Here: What is New About It?. Democratization. doi:10.1080/13510347.2019.1582029
- Lazer DMJ (2018). The Science of Fake News. Addressing Fake News Requires a Multidisciplinary Effort. Science. doi:10.1126/science.aao2998
- Lieberman RC, Mettler S, Roberts KM, Lieberman RC, Mettler S, Roberts KN (2022). Democratic Resilience: Can the United States Withstand Rising Polarization?. doi:10.1017/9781108999601.001
- Lima V (2025). Strengthening participatory governance through resilience and tech-enabled democratic innovations. Journal of Deliberative Democracy. doi:10.16997/jdd.1613
- Lindner R, Aichholzer G, Hennen L, Keulen I, Korthagen I (2020). European E-Democracy in Practice. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-27184-8_2
- Maerz S, Croissant A, Tomini L (2024). The Routledge Handbook of Autocratization. doi:10.4324/9781003306900-17
- Meléndez C, Kaltwasser CR (2021). Negative partisanship towards the populist radical right and democratic resilience in Western Europe. Democratization. doi:10.1080/13510347.2021.1883002
- Merkel W (2023). What is democratic resilience and how can we strengthen it? Toda Peace Institute Policy Brief Number 69.
- Merkel W, Lührmann A (2021). Introduction: resilience of democracies: responses to illiberal and authoritarian challenges. Democratization. doi:10.1080/13510347.2021.1928081
- Negri A (1991). The savage anomaly. The power of Spinoza's metaphysics and politics.
- Negri A (2004). Subversive Spinoza.
- Neumann F (1957/2017). Anxiety and politics. Capitalism & Critique. doi:10.31269/triplec.v15i2.901
- Fuchs C, Unterberger K (2021). The Public Service Media and Public Service Internet Manifesto. doi:10.16997/book60.b
- Reid J (2012). The disastrous and politically debased subject of resilience. Dev Dialogue.
- Riedl RB, Friesen P, McCoy J (2025). Democratic backsliding, resilience, and resistance. World Polit. doi:10.1353/wp.2025.a954440
- Scholz TR (2023). Own this! How platform cooperatives help workers build a democratic internet.
- Shandilya SK, Datta A, Kartik Y (2024). Digital resilience: navigating disruption and safeguarding data privacy. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-53290-0
- Shein E, Emmons C, Lemargie K (2023). Paths to democratic resilience in an era of backsliding. A roadmap for the democracy support community.
- Sisk T (2017). Democracy and resilience: conceptual approaches and considerations.
- Spinoza BD, Morgan ML (1675–1677/2002.676–754). Spinoza Complete Works.
- Tomini L, Gibril S, Bochev V (2023). Standing Up Against Autocratization Across Political Regimes: A Comparative Analysis of Resistance Actors and Strategies. Democratization.
- Vosoughi S, Roy D, Aral S (2018). The Spread of True and False News Online. Science. doi:10.1126/science.aap9559
- Walby S (2015). Crisis.
- Waldner D, Lust E (2018). Unwelcome Change: Coming to Terms with Democratic Backsliding. Annu. Rev. Polit. Sci. doi:10.1146/annurev-polisci-050517-114628
- Walz K, Merten L, Rosenthal M (2025). From latest buzzword to conceptual framework: unraveling the complexities of democratic resilience. Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft. doi:10.1007/s12286-024-00618-7
- Weinhardt C, Fegert J, Hinz O (2024). Digital democracy: a wake-up call how is research can contribute to strengthening the resilience of modern democracies. Bus. Inf. Syst. Eng. doi:10.1007/s12599-024-00862-x
- Williams R (1973). Communications.
- Williams R (1979). Politics and Letters: Interviews with New Left Review.
- Zuckerberg M (2025). Mark Zuckerberg Announces the End of Meta's Fact-Checking Program in the United States.