Bridging the gap between “the platform society” and technopolitics: A systematic literature review about digital democracy platforms

Abstract

The subject of digital democracy platforms has gained interest in recent years, driven by the surge of online participation mechanisms provided by political parties and governmental institutions as a response to declining rates of interest in more traditional forms of political engagement and demands about democratic reform. However, several case studies cast doubts about the capability of such platforms to result in meaningful political change and effectively pushing the boundaries of representative democracy. To synthesize the most recent scientific contributions to this topic, a systematic literature review was conducted to analyze research published in 2023 about the contributions of digital democracy platforms for political participation, their impact on democracy and the variables that influence their implementation and adoption, ultimately leading to their successes or failures. 125 articles were collected to have their findings analyzed. The conclusions of this systematic literature review suggest that digital democracy platforms decrease the costs of participation and facilitate the escalation of participative initiatives for larger numbers of citizens without the spatial and temporal constraints of analogue forms of participation. However, these platforms face a diverse set of obstacles. Most users are from more affluent socioeconomic backgrounds and the lack of informal institutionalization, or willingness by lawmakers to prioritize citizen inputs to participative governance, leads to rarely effective changes in policymaking.