The Trans-Atlantic Platform for Social Sciences and Humanities (T-AP) has announced the 18 awardees of the Democracy, Governance, and Trust competition, aimed at deepening our understanding of key issues in democracy, governance, and trust. Two of the winning proposals involve Faculty members from the University of Ottawa Centre for Law, Technology and Society.
The Potential of Digital: Optimising Trustworthy Digital Contact
High trust interactions between citizens and political actors such as politicians, government officials, and journalists, enable collective action, inspire participation and ensure adherence to political rules and norms. Yet these bonds are subject to challenge and increasingly frayed.
Dr. Elizabeth Dubois, a Faculty member of the Centre for Law, Technology and Society and an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at the Faculty of Arts, is part of a winning team led by Prof. Katharine Dommett from the University of Sheffield.
The project will explore whether and under what conditions digital communication can strengthen or erode trust – specifically looking at communication via email, social media, chatbots, social media influencers, and AI-generated synthetic media. The project expects minority communities to have different expectations for communication with political actors and will examine how women, ethnic minorities and diaspora communities respond to alternative forms of contact.
Open Constitutional Democracy: Reconciling Deliberation and Constitutional Democracy
In response to the phenomenon of democratic decline, widespread loss of political trust, and failures of governance globally, democratic reform and innovation are of paramount importance.
Led by Professor Michael Pal, a Faculty member of the Centre for Law, Technology and Society and an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law, Common Law Section, this project aims to develop a revised version of Open Democracy that enhances citizen participation without sacrificing the institutions that are necessary for rights protection and effective governance. It will be co-lead with Prof. Odile Ammann (University of Lausanne) and prof David Vitale (University of Warwick).
The project will develop a theory of “Open Constitutional Democracy” that enhances democratic participation and political trust, but which specifies their relationship to foundational constitutional principles and institutions. The project will also build an innovative model of governance that incorporates principles of Open Democracy; and demonstrate the need for robust interpretation of the social right to education as necessary for democratic flourishing.