This year’s conference topic addressed democracy in the digital age.
Over a dozen Hertie School MPP and MIA students organised the 2017 European Public Policy Conference (EPPC), which took place 21-23 April in Prague. Future policymakers, political leaders, regional experts, and scholars gather once a year to address current European challenges; this year’s topic was “Democracy in the Digital Age.”
Digitalisation poses opportunities and challenges for democratic systems. The conference focused on the transformative power of technology on democracy in the following three ways.
- Voter Alienation. Digital Participation a potential solution?: Exploring the potential benefits and risks of the use of technology to drive citizens’ participation in politics and in the democratic process.
- Information and the Shaping of Citizens’ Preferences: Analyses the consequences and the potential dangers of “social-media silos” that greatly influence the current political discourse.
- Security in the Digital Age: Broadening the debate by exploring current and future security challenges associated with an ever-increasing reliance on computers in political and economic affairs. The dimension of internet has pushed democratic states to their boundaries and the question arises to what extent the state itself can regulate this medium without being accused of using censorship tools.
Read the full Position Paper here.
Read the full EPPC 2017 final report here.
This was the ninth annual EPPC conference, hosted this year in conjunction with the Hertie School, the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University, and the International Policy and Leadership Institute.
More information about workshops and speakers can be found on http://eppc2017.org/