Tagline
Search
Back to overview

Digitalization and Democracy

Global digital governance

Modern technologies shape social and political interactions through their life cycle process: from design to deployment. Given their critical role, technologies significantly impact all aspects of the democracy including the rule of law, promotion and respect of fundamental rights in digital contexts, quality of representation and participation. Consequently, aspects such as internet communication protocols, artificial intelligence, or digital tools for service delivery (including digital public infrastructure), should be regulated according to democratic principles and values in a global, regional and national level.

The way digital technologies are governed at all levels shapes how these technologies evolve. Infusing democratic principles and values into these governance processes can drive technology towards a more democracy-friendly design and application.

With key policy processes changing the internet governance landscape, such as the UN Global Digital Compact (GDC), the EU Digital Services Act (DSA) and the EU AI Act, digital governance is undergoing a transformation. International IDEA is actively contributing to framework policy through research, consultation and advocacy to promote democratic principles and protection of human rights.  

To learn more about International IDEA’s contributions to global digital governance, read the Policy Paper on the Global Digital Compact and Policy Brief on Protecting Democratic Elections Through Safeguarding Information Integrity. 

Close tooltip