The Future of Digital Democracy: Learning with Ukraine

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Audrey Tang

Taiwan Cyber Ambassador, Digital Minister

On AI as democratic tool:

"AI like Taiwan is a force for good that can help to build better tomorrows with the people... The challenge is... ensuring AI develops symbiotically with society, responding to its will rather than controlling it."

On bridging polarization:

"In Taiwan, a solution is building bridging systems through large-scale civic deliberation. By deploying tools like Polis where there is no reply button, attacks on others are impossible. Instead, the algorithm amplify not the most divisive voices but a statement that earn support from otherwise opposed groups."

Vision statement:

"Democracy can be fast, fair and fun. We do not have to choose."

Glenn Weyl

Co-author of Plurality; Founder, RadicalxChange

On democratic innovation:

"Democracy is an endless frontier, not an accomplished thing in some countries that we shame others, but something that we are all trying to find together... I think that if we can get into this attitude... then I think we can all be young again, young and hopeful."

On Ukraine's potential:

"Everyone around the world has been inspired and is learning from the scrappy decentralized tech-forward way in which people resisted and built really new a whole new form of warfare... If Ukraine can bring that same scrappy decentralized energy with technology to build back, I think it's something that will be copied everywhere."

Historical perspective:

"The first picture drawn by human hands that looks like a neural network... was voting for the Doge of Venice in the 13th century... Once you realize that you start to see that actually there shouldn't be a separation between the dramatic ways in which things like AI are transforming our technological world and the way in which we can reimagine our democracy."

Zarah Bruhn

SPRIND (German Agency for Breakthrough Innovations)

On trust crisis:

"When I was seeing how Taiwan has actually skyrocketed in terms of trust in democracy... the trust in into the state and democracy was somewhat one digit. I think it was seven or 9% and in the end it's I think it's more than 70% right now... especially in Germany and Europe we really need to come up with disruptive ideas."

On SPRIND's mission:

"Founding the agency for breakthrough innovation in Germany was a breakthrough in itself with a governmental breakthrough... We have a budget of around 300 million per year... we are investing in breakthrough innovations that basically separate the world of today and the world of tomorrow."

On radical transparency:

"What we can do as sprint is basically say do radical transparency in the process we can basically trust the outcome of the process... at least the lab can say we are radically transparent and that's one of the core principles of the lab."

Oleksii Zhmerenetskyi

Ukrainian MP, Strategic Foresight

On wartime digital resilience:

"It's very symbolic that I'm I will take the floor without the electricity through the mobile internet... All the government, all the parliament, parliamentarians had all the possibility to continue working... all the documents, all the data, decisions conversations even the meetings of the committees took place on the digital platforms."

On scenario planning:

"In case of these scenarios... the local small communities will grow and the people from the big cities will bring their culture their civic values... but to keep the country together to get the people the possibility to participate in democratic process, we need very strong digital platform."

Critical challenge:

"We have very strong platform on the state level. But in case of these scenarios... we have the a challenge of development these tools for local communities."

Katia Lukicheva

Health Reform Expert

The transformation story:

"Ukraine is the story of the impossible... It launched a very simple principle that sounds simple more difficult to implement politically that money follows the patients, patients can choose their family doctor and money follows their choice... 32 million declarations were signed between the patients and the doctors and that meant that there were 32 million budget decisions that were being made by citizens."

Core insight:

"Downstream democratic participation is what enabled the upstream policy reform to work... Resilience comes from people. It comes from civil society. It comes from communities on the ground... Tech is an enabling factor. Yes, it creates transparency, accountability and engagement mechanisms, but resilience is definitely with the people."

Systems transformation:

"Ukraine has done something that very few countries have managed. It actually rewritten completely the logic of public finance to place citizens and verification with the society and not with the states."

Oleksandra Radchenko

E-Democracy Platform Manager, EGAP

On participatory budgets:

"This tool gives a citizen real influence. People understand that if they submit a project or just vote for the project, they in few in few months they see this project to be implemented. So they realize they can influence really not just in election process... Sometimes in election not so much people take part in such protest."

On participation rates:

"In one community unfortunately now this community is occupied... in 2023 they had 40% of citizens who take part in a participatory budget. Sometimes in election not so much people take part."

On wartime adaptation:

"After 2022 you can see this growth. Why? We have this problem with Soviet and Russian names of our streets, our squares, buildings, monuments... This invasion was a trigger when people said we don't want these names on our street. Let's rename them."

mashbean

Digital Democracy Advocate, Taiwan

On the challenge:

"The internet is natively suited in digital assemblies... But what I want to discuss more closely is the other sides digital association. How do we not only gathering in moment of crisis but also keep people engaged, stabilize procedures and steward resources so that the communities can govern themselves over time. In this front, I am more pessimistic."

Critical distinction:

"Digital assemblies has shown that the internet can accelerate democratization and peaceful evolution. But to make digital democracy solid, we must turn our attention to digital association... when assemblers can lead into associations and associations can grow into new institutions."

Billion Lee

Cofacts Founder

On open-source approach:

"Our engine is provide a lot of like a free consultant session with like international contributor Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand... in Thailand use our source code make a thai version in their country that's why it's important to see how like open source project can be valuable."

Mission statement:

"We always believe that's quite important to see what we can do contribution what we can share to global partners open source... disinformation misinformation is not the only issue in Taiwan it's like neutral issue to what a global point is."

Speakers

• Audrey Tang – Cyber Ambassador At-Large, Taiwan; pioneer in digital democracy and civic technology
• Glenn Weyl – Co-author of Plurality, Founder of RadicalxChange; political economist reimagining democracy
• Zarah Bruhn – SPRIND (German Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovations); leading Germany's Digital Democracy Lab
• Oleksii Zhmerenetskyi – Ukrainian MP focused on strategic foresight and digital transformation during wartime
• Katia Lukicheva – Health reform expert; architect of Ukraine's radical "money follows patients" healthcare transformation
• Oleksandra Radchenko – E-Democracy Platform Manager at EGAP; managing Ukraine's unified platform serving 2M+ users
• mashbean – Digital democracy advocate, Taiwan; expert on transitioning from digital assembly to association
• Billion Lee – Cofacts founder; developer of Taiwan's open-source community fact-checking platform

Individual Speakers

Audrey Tang (Taiwan Cyber Ambassador)

• AI as Gardener: AI should develop "symbiotically with society," acting as a gardener tending to the complex social ecosystem at "the speed of the garden"
• Bridging vs. Enragement: Transform "antisocial networks" (platforms maximizing engagement through division) into civic deliberation tools like Polis that amplify bridging statements, not divisive voices
• Civic AI & Collective Wisdom: Democracy can be "fast, fair and fun" through technology that augments collective intelligence rather than replacing human judgment
• Taiwan Model as Blueprint: Demonstrates how digital tools can depolarize, build consensus, and enable citizen participation

Glenn Weyl (Plurality Co-author)

• Democracy as Endless Frontier: Reject the notion that Nordic/Western democracies are the ultimate model; democracy is something "we are all trying to find together"
• Non-Aligned World Leadership: Countries like Vietnam, UAE, and Ukraine can leapfrog traditional democracies by not being committed to outdated models
• Historical Precedent: Democracy has sometimes been ahead of technology (e.g., Venetian Doge selection resembled neural networks in 13th century)
• Ukraine as Phoenix: Ukraine has unique potential to show the world how decentralized, digitally-empowered citizen participation can truly govern a country, becoming "a hero and image to the world"

Zarah Bruhn (SPRIND - German Agency for Breakthrough Innovations)

• SPRIND as Breakthrough: A government-backed innovation agency with "a lot of freedom" and its own law freeing it from bureaucracy, investing €300M/year in breakthrough innovations
• Digital Democracy Lab: Building Germany's first digital democracy lab, inspired by Taiwan's success (trust in democracy rose from ~7% to 70%+)
• Learning, Not Reinventing: Emphasis on learning from global examples rather than reinventing the wheel; actively scouting digital democracy initiatives
• Radical Transparency: The lab itself will practice radical transparency even if the broader German government cannot yet
• Trust Challenge: Germany faces a trust deficit in federal government, making SPRIND's semi-independent status valuable

Oleksii Zhmerenetskyi (Ukrainian MP - Strategic Foresight)

• Four Scenarios for Ukraine: World War III (NATO involvement), Unfair Peace (territorial compromise leading to autocracy), Victory (recovery with EU/NATO membership), and Destructive Stagnation (most relevant)
• Destructive Stagnation Reality: Prolonged war causing de-urbanization, people relocating to villages for cheaper living and local resources (food, solar power, local internet)
• Digital Infrastructure as Survival: Strong national digital platforms exist, but local communities need similar tools to maintain democratic participation during decentralization
• Key Recommendations:
• Accelerate mobile/internet connectivity with protected, localized infrastructure
• Balance digital transformation between state and local levels
• Create platforms for 10M+ refugees abroad to participate
• Address digital divide by age and skill level
• Invest heavily in cybersecurity

Katia Lukicheva (Health Reform & Bottom-up Budgeting)

• Ukraine as "Story of the Impossible": Achieved one of Europe's most radical health reforms in 3.5 years, transforming from one of the most corrupt systems to a model of innovation
• "Money Follows Patients": Revolutionary principle where 32 million patient-doctor declarations meant 32 million budget decisions made by citizens, not politicians
• Upstream + Downstream Integration:
• Upstream: Plural governance boards, National Health Service, Prozorro procurement, e-health systems
• Downstream: Democratic participation through patient choice, community oversight boards, civil society watchdogs
• Core Insight: "Downstream democratic participation is what enabled the upstream policy reform to work"
• Health as Democracy: When citizens can't exercise right to health without bribes/connections, they lose trust in democratic institutions
• Resilience is with People: Digital infrastructure creates transparency, but resilience comes from people, civil society, and feedback loops

Oleksandra Radchenko (E-Democracy Platform Manager)

• E-GAP Platform: Unified platform with 5 tools used by 33%+ of Ukrainian communities, serving 2M+ users
• Participatory Budget Success: 30% of communities using it during war; some achieving 40% citizen participation (higher than election turnout)
• E-Consultations Growth: Exploded after 2022 invasion, primarily for renaming Soviet/Russian street names (80% of consultations)
• Practical + Symbolic: Platform handles both practical budget allocation and symbolic community-building (street renaming)
• Three Pillars: E-services (Marriage Online, e-Baby), local-level tools (mobile suitcase for low-mobility citizens), e-democracy tools

mashbean (Taiwan Digital Democracy Advocate)

• Assembly vs. Association: Digital assembly (mobilizing, coordinating) is relatively easy; digital association (sustained engagement, governance, resource stewardship) is much harder
• Why Association is Hard:
• Trust/identity challenges with pseudonymous participants
• Procedure/governance complexity (proposals, deliberation, voting, execution, audit)
• Collective action problems (attention demands, delayed/abstract returns)
• Success Examples: Japan's Ano campaign, Taiwan's g0v (sustained through open-source collaboration), Ukraine DAO (transparent cross-border donations)
• Core Argument: "To make digital democracy solid, we must turn our attention to digital association"

Billion Lee (Cofacts - Taiwan Fact-Checking)

• Open-Source Fact-Checking: Community-driven platform where anyone can report disinformation via chatbot, connected to volunteer fact-checkers
• Full Transparency: All data downloadable as CSV; analytics show trends; MIT/CC-BY licenses; code on GitHub; AI datasets on Hugging Face
• Gamification: XP system, levels, badges for fact-checking contributions to sustain engagement
• Global Replicability: Bilingual toolkit (Mandarin/English) has enabled Thai version; "open source project can be valuable can do contribution toward global powers"
• Information Integrity as Global Issue: Disinformation isn't just Taiwan's problem but requires global cooperation

Panel Discussion Highlights

On Building Trust

• Alexandra: Main barriers are (1) people don't know tools exist, (2) people don't see benefits/results. Needs both government commitment AND citizen interest
• Katia: Showed authorities where money leakages were, making advocacy easier with clear narrative about budget needs
• Grace's point (from chat): "It's easy to talk about restoring trust. The hard thing is becoming actually trustworthy" - achieved through doing, not talking

On Digital Divide & Vulnerability

• Oleksii: Need huge public campaigns to make tools "fancy and popular"; make participatory budgeting obligatory; but requires convincing parliamentarians
• Decentralization is both opportunity (resilience) and challenge (maintaining connectivity, cybersecurity)

On Pain Points & Promise

• Katia: Funding sustainability is biggest challenge (donor-dependent); need to think of civic tech as digital public goods infrastructure
• Oleksii: Next challenge is G2G (government-to-government) digitalization, not just G2C (government-to-citizen)
• Alexandra: Growing digital literacy and community independence through decentralization reform are most inspiring trends

Overall Session Themes

1. Decentralization as Core Principle

The thread running through every presentation: Ukraine's strength comes from decentralized organization (warfare, governance, service delivery), and digital democracy must support this rather than centralize power.

2. Trust Through Transparency & Participation

Multiple speakers emphasized that trust isn't restored through promises but through:

• Radical transparency (open data, open source, visible processes)
• Real agency (participatory budgeting where people see direct results)
• Feedback loops (civil society as enforcement layer, not just observers)

3. The "Upstream-Downstream" Model

Katia's health reform story provides the clearest articulation: upstream governance innovation (open infrastructure, plural governance boards) only works when integrated with downstream democratic participation (patient choice, community oversight, civil society feedback). This applies across all domains.

4. Technology as Enabler, Not Solution

Consensus that digital tools create possibility spaces (transparency, efficiency, reach) but resilience comes from people, communities, and institutional design. As Katia said: "Tech is an enabling factor...but resilience is definitely with the people."

5. Ukraine as Global Innovation Laboratory

Repeatedly framed as having potential to become the model for:

• Decentralized digital democracy under extreme pressure
• Rapid civic tech deployment at scale
• Integration of refugees/diaspora into democratic processes
• Rebuilding with embedded democratic participation (not just service delivery)

6. From Assembly to Association

mashbean's framing clarifies the current challenge: we've figured out digital mobilization, but sustaining engagement and building institutions digitally remains unsolved. This is where the next phase of innovation must focus.

7. Learning Network, Not Model Transfer

Explicit rejection of "one best model" thinking. Germany learning from Taiwan, Ukraine innovating beyond both, Japan adapting plurality principles, Taiwan learning from Ukraine's wartime innovations - emphasis on mutual learning and local adaptation.

8. Plurality as Design Philosophy

Recurring theme that democratic digital tools must:

• Amplify bridging voices, not divisive ones
• Enable participation across differences
• Turn polarization into productive dialogue
• Work at "speed of the garden" (society's pace)

9. Critical Infrastructure Perspective

Digital democracy platforms aren't nice-to-haves but survival infrastructure - especially clear in Ukraine's scenario planning where mobile internet and decentralized platforms enable continued statehood during infrastructure destruction.

10. Symbolic + Material Democracy

Alexandra's point about street renaming alongside budget allocation: democracy needs both material resource distribution AND symbolic community-building through shared narrative construction.

Meta-observation: This session successfully demonstrated plurality in action - diverse contexts (Taiwan, Germany, Ukraine, Japan) and domains (health, foresight, fact-checking, budgeting) all contributing distinct insights that complemented rather than competed with each other, showing how cross-pollination advances the field faster than any single model could.

Event

We are excited to invite you to our upcoming Digital Democracy event scheduled for November 14, 2025 (time TBA, second part of the day CET). This collaborative session aims to bring together diverse perspectives from government, business, and academia to explore innovative approaches to digital democracy and governance.

This event is part of the UA DLT Forum '25 reBUIDL initiative and will serve as a platform for meaningful connections and potential collaborations for reimagining Ukraine’s rebuild with new technology and ideas. We value your expertise and believe your participation would significantly contribute to this important dialogue.

In this meetup, we will:

• Discuss rebuild of Ukraine through RadicalxChange‑inspired approaches
• Facilitate cross‑country exchange to share practical experience and learn from one another
• Kickstart a Resilience Lab to prototype and test web3 and digital governance solutions for Ukraine and world

Format: Interactive online session (2-3 hours)

• Lightning Talks
• RxC / Plurality 101
• EGAP / State of Dig Demo Ukraine
• …
• Panel discussion
• Unconference-style breakout rooms / Networking mixer
• Report to all registrants with recording and notes

Task list

Outreach

Ukraine:

• Max Semenchuk – Web3 Institute
• Ilona Postemska / Sofia Salosh – EGAP
• nestulia@dream-office.org / ivanov@dream-office.org – DREAM (might come, but probably not present)

Global:

• Andreas Fauler, RadicalxChange (Germany)
• Malik Lakoubay, RadicalxChange (Argentina & EU)
• Jack Henderson, RadicalxChange (USA)
• Jess Scully, RadicalxChange (Australia)
• Puja Ohlhaver, Plurality (Switzerland)
• Julian Zawistowski, Golem (Poland)
• Ken Suzuki, SmartNews (Japan)
• Audrey Tang, Cyber Ambassador At-Large (Taiwan)
• Mashbean, ex-MODA (Taiwan)
• Ilkka Räsänen, Sitra (Finland)
• Bo Harald (Finland)
• Leon Erichssen (Germany)
• Taka (Plurality, Japan)
• Andreas → check with German parliamentary
• Flor Cafarone, Democracia en Red (Argentina)
• Magu Lonati, Civc House (Argentina)
• Mati Bianchi, Asunto Del Sur (Argentina)
• Ronja Kemmer, MdB of CDU
• Mario Brandenburg, former Secretary of State from the Ministry of Education and Research in Germany

More global from Max

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-strohmenger-296725236/
• Gayan Benedict
• Alex Norta, Head of the IEEE Finland Blockchain Group (Finland)
• Tomislav Mamic, Municipal Quadratic Funding Initiative (Croatia)

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLV_W9wE6WVDhmBqW7guOKz--t_-oGS0eB