Digitalization of Democracy – Between Skepticism and Euphoria

The digitalized world is turning ever faster, except for politics, where digital innovations, like e-voting, are only hesitantly introduced. But what is holding back there, and why?

 

The digitalization of democracy is lagging behind otherwise highly digitalized societal life. Where e-banking has become daily business, nationwide e-voting in Switzerland is still in the far future. In this module, you will get to know why we still cannot vote electronically and what the reasons are for the tedious negotiations preceding the introduction of (digital) innovations.  

To the learning unit (german)
Basic informations

Learning outcomes:

Students will be able to...

  • .... identify both fears and hopes expressed in the discussion surrounding the digitalization of democratic processes (particularly e-voting).
  • ... critically discuss potential political and societal challenges of digitalized participation (e-voting) (possibly including signature collection; e-collecting).
  • ... describe the political process in Switzerland that accompanies discussions about e-voting and e-collecting.
  • ... using the two concrete examples (or the example of e-voting), explain why innovations in politics often take a very long time to be introduced and gain acceptance.

 

Duration:

2 hours

Language:

German

Expert:

Prof. Dr. Marc Bühlmann (Institute of Political Science)
Eligibility requirements: Accessible for members of Swiss and ENLIGHT universities

Completion:

Participants receive a confirmation of completion upon successful completion of this learning unit.
Credit transfer to study program:

The possibility of crediting the learning unit to one's own study program must be agreed upon bilaterally with each respective study program.
Authorship:

The learning unit was developed in a cooperation between the Institute of Political Science, the Learning and Development Unit and the Innovative Teaching & Learning Technologies (ILUB) Unit.