Occasional Paper
Democracy movements are struggling to challenge autocratic governments, partly due to the changing technology landscape. This report by Erica Chenoweth summarizes a December 2024 workshop on the specific issue of AI adoption within democracy movements and offers some key recommendations.
By:
In recent years, democracy movements have experienced a historic decline in their ability to challenge autocratic governments effectively. This decline is due, at least in part, to the changing technology landscape, which has allowed autocratic governments to monopolize the advantages of breakthrough technologies to strengthen their power. The relatively slow adoption of AI tools by democracy movements may be widening the gulf between these movements and their adversaries—a gap that may grow even larger if movements do not integrate these technologies now. To explore these issues, we convened a workshop in December 2024. This report summarizes the proceedings and offers several recommendations based on the discussion.
Commentary
Matthew Cebul and Sharan Grewal explain that dictators around the world have been emboldened by the Trump administration’s abandonment of democracy and human rights norms, but crackdowns may spark stronger and more unified pro-democracy movements.
Commentary
Drawing from her experience deploying an AI-powered chatbot to share accurate voting information during Venezuela’s recent election, Isabella Picón explains how AI technologies can enhance electoral participation and support pro-democracy movements.
Commentary
Freddy Guevara offers a fundamental playbook for social activists on how to augment advocacy efforts with artificial intelligence technologies
Commentary
In its first 100 days, the Trump administration has taken sweeping, aggressive action against federal employees, impacting hundreds of thousands of workers and sending ripple effects across the country. Still, unions have stood strong, with the AFL-CIO, AFT, AFSCME, SEIU, and others filing over a dozen lawsuits to protect workers’ rights.
Feature
What kind of democracy do legislators want? This question was at the center of a recent discussion with Melody Crowder-Meyer, associate professor of political science at Davidson College, as part of the American Politics Speaker Series.
Policy Brief
The GETTING-Plurality Research Network submitted a comment to Representative Trahan’s Request for Information to modernize the Privacy Act of 1974.
