About | Commission on Democracy and Technology

Project Background

Chatham House is establishing a Commission on Democracy and Technology in Europe to examine the role of technology both as a driver and as a potential solution to the current crisis of liberal democracy.

This commission will be open and inclusive, engaging a wide community of users to develop a deliberative online research process that can help change the way policy research is conducted. We hope to open up the ‘black box’ of traditional investigative commissions and widen the range of inputs into the research process.

Thus, the process aims to be transparent and to allow users to input more directly into the research than is traditionally the case. We will do this by opening up the phase between the submission of evidence and the publication of the report, working with users to integrate the ideas that have emerged during the submission phase into building blocks for the report.

Learn more about how it works.

Project Team

The project is led by Hans Kundnani from Chatham House.

Guided by the members of the Commission, Chatham House will publish a report in 2019 that will include recommendations of practical ways in which technology can be used to renew and strengthen liberal democracy in Europe – in particular around increasing accountability and transparency.

We are grateful to Janus Friis for supporting the project.

Hans Kundnani Chatham House

Hans Kundnani is Senior Research Fellow in the Europe Programme at Chatham House.

Commission

The Commission consists of experts on democracy, European politics, and technology, but also invites contributions from others. The names of Commission members are below.

Francesca Bria Barcelona City Council

Commissioner for Digital Technology and Innovation

Liam Byrne MP Member of UK Parliament

Shadow Digital Minister

Wendy Hall Southampton University

Professor of Computer Science and co-founder of the Web Science Trust

Yvonne Hofstetter

Author, Das Ende der Demokratie (“The End of Democracy”, 2016)

Toomas Hendrik Ilves

President of Estonia (2006-16)

Cyril Lage Cap Collectif

Co-founder

Guillaume Liegey Liegey Muller Pons

Founder and CEO

Adrian Lovett The Web Foundation

President and CEO

Helen Margetts Oxford Internet Institute

Professor of Society and the Internet

Luuk van Middelaar Leiden University

Professor of Foundations and Practice of the European Union and its Institutions

Julia Reda European Parliament

Member, Pirate Party Germany

Andreas Rödder Mainz University

Professor of History

Marietje Schaake European Parliament

Member, D66

Shahin Vallée

Economic Advisor to the President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy (2012 -14)

James Williams

Author, Stand Out of Our Light

Contact

If you would like to know more about this project, check for regular updates, follow us on Twitter or get in touch with the team.