Digital platforms transforming local democracies

Abstract

A rapid increase in the use of digital platforms has been shifting paradigms in all aspects of the society, changing the traditional roles of public institutions, and bringing the debate on the future of democracy. Academics, citizens, and decision-makers from different levels of government have a surging interest in knowing how to properly frame and adapt the transforming demands, opportunities, and social patterns brought by technologies which allow sharing data and processes, expanding digital capabilities, and combining services and governance models. In parallel, concerns over accountability, access and participation take up more space in the debate around digitalization of governments. On the one hand, technology can be used to legitimize the public sector, bringing citizens closer to politics, and reducing civic apathy. Yet, on the other hand, if this digitalization process is left unquestioned, the foundations of democracy as we know it will be eroded. Therefore, this research aims at identifying the ‘platformization’ level of Portuguese municipalities, by building an Index that combines both qualitative and quantitative data, through an exploratory sequential mixed methods approach. Additionally, an in-depth analysis will be conducted using comparative methods, in order to capture distinctive patterns within selected municipalities. The outputs of this research are expected to contribute not only for mapping Portuguese municipalities’ penetration of digital platforms, but also for broadening the evidence on the impacts of these technologies on public scrutiny, citizen participation and legitimacy in the context of local democracies.