DemocracyLive - A policy tracking app

Challenge

In most democracies, where the population of a nation will vote once every 4-5 years for elected representatives in local, regional, and national assemblies, there is unfortunately often a lack of further involvement. This can result in populations feeling as though their voices are hardly being heard and consequently, not being represented.

Part of this problem lies in the fact that information regarding the development of policies indirectly chosen by citizens through elections is not transparent. The Pew Research centre (2019) for example found that two-thirds of US adults believe that the government unnecessarily withholds information on public policy that they could safely release, which suggests a huge divide between governing bodies and the people that they are supposed to represent.

Over recent years especially with the COVID-19 pandemic and the series of enduring economic crises, we have seen governments refuse to take accountability for certain omissions, the ramifications of this are that of a lack in trust in both governments, but also a sentiment that democracy is not working for the average person. Governments can also suffer from chronic underperformance where there are absences of robust methods of maintaining accountability.

This proposal aims to combat these issues by involving civilians in decision making, giving them the power to prevent certain policies from being forgotten about.

Proposal

We aimed to increase the level of participatory democracy with the development of an app and website that could be used as a tool for governments to receive a greater level of feedback from their populace about the work that they are doing: DemocracyLive. There would be two main features of this app:

  1. citizen polling which would consist of a periodic poll going out to citizens regarding what specific policies they would like to see prioritised in the political agenda in the upcoming period. These policies would be fast tracked as an important governmental concern; and
  2. policy tracking, a stage where the app would provide real time updates on the adoption, implementation, or improvement process of the policies that the citizenry has voted on.

Impact

The outcome of such a proposal would be a greater public engagement, which is realised through the fast tracking of citizens’ priorities. The participation of the public would enhance an active and more involved democratic process that can align the actual needs of the communities with policies adopted by decision makers at different levels of government.

The app aspires to create a lasting impact on the awareness of the citizenry, empowering them to access high-quality information pertaining to government systems and policy matters. A platform as the one described above would also encourage transparency of institutions, making sure that they pursue the best interest of the community and act on welfare programmes. Efficacy and accountability of policy-making are one of the main focuses of the proposal, directed both to parties and democratic bodies.