Archive · 24 conversations in Governance
Interviews and field notes from people building new forms of democratic practice.
Gianluca Misuraca of Inspiring Futures Europe, coordinator of the European Union AI Skills Academy, discusses how foresight can help societies shape technological change. He explains why democratic control of AI depends on digital sovereignty, public-sector skills, interoperability, better procureme
Alberto Fernandez Gibaja leads International IDEA's global work on technology and democracy. In this episode, he reflects on digital sovereignty, AI governance, data rights, representative democracy, political parties, and why democratic societies need political will to shape technology.
Anthony Zacharzewski is the founder of Democratic Society, an organization working across Europe to build democratic infrastructure and improve participation in government. In this conversation, he discusses how participation can become part of institutional design, why democracy must engage serious
Alice Casiraghi is a systemic designer working on sustainability, circular economy, regenerative systems, and public services. She is a European Climate Pact Ambassador, teaches at Politecnico di Milano and created Climate Cards to educate on environmental impacts. Through her systemic approach, she
Antoine Vergne discusses Missions Publiques, random selection, and the challenge of scaling deliberative decision-making. The conversation explores citizens’ assemblies, global policy, legitimacy, institutional uptake, and how deliberation can move from local experiments toward processes that involve many more people without losing quality.
Giovanni Di Sotto discusses electronic voting, security, and democratic innovation through the experience of Multicast. The conversation explores digital identity, usability, transparency, institutional trust, accessibility, and the tradeoffs involved in designing voting and assembly systems that are both practical and credible.
Ben Nelson discusses the Minerva Project, higher education reform, and the role universities can play in democracy. The conversation explores learning design, critical thinking, institutional incentives, global education, and why democratic societies need educational models that develop judgment rather than simply transmit information.
Cecile Green and Seth Frey discuss the Commoning Standard and the role of self-governance in democracy. The conversation explores commons, standards, collective rules, and how communities can document, compare, and improve self-governance practices without reducing democratic life to a single institutional model.
Jorge Lagarto discusses LabX and human-centric design in the public sector. The conversation explores service design, experimentation inside government, citizen needs, administrative culture, and how public innovation labs can help institutions test better ways of designing policies and services with the people affected by them.
Wietse van Ransbeeck discusses Go Vocal and how participation can be integrated into everyday governance. The conversation explores civic engagement platforms, government workflows, institutional adoption, and the challenge of making public input useful for officials while keeping participation meaningful for residents.
Stefaan Verhulst discusses how governance improves when institutions learn to ask better questions, use evidence responsibly, and design decision-making around real public problems. The conversation connects democratic innovation with data, collective intelligence, institutional capacity, and the practical challenge of turning broad civic participation into decisions that governments can understand and act on.
Nathan Schneider explores protocols, modular politics, and governance in online communities. The conversation connects digital constitutionalism, platform design, and democratic experimentation, asking how communities can create rules, adapt institutions, and build more accountable online spaces without relying only on centralized platforms or informal moderation habits.
