Digital Discourses and the Democratic Public Sphere 2035

Democracies around the world are under pressure, and Germany is no exception. Attacks on
liberal democracy and its values come both from within, with extremist and populist actors
seeking power and influence, and from abroad, with autocratic states competing for regional
and global hegemony. Central to these attacks is the battle for public opinion and the overall
societal mood. Among other tactics, disinformation is deliberately used to inflame emotions,
drive polarisation, and undermine trust in politics, the media, and democratic systems.
In the era of social media and at a time when texts, images, and videos can be convincingly
generated or manipulated by artificial intelligence, the value of the democratic public sphere
for the survival of democracy becomes evident. Resilient democracies need a discursive
space that provides reliable and trustworthy information.
Democracy thrives on the competition between politicians and parties with differing values
and interests to find the best solutions, and on citizens‘ ability to form opinions confidently
and based on facts. It also depends on journalists acting as corrective and enlightening
forces, capable of critically monitoring governments and questioning political decisions.
Without such a public sphere where civilised debates can take place, and without media
that provides reliable information, a vibrant democracy has little chance of future viability. But
how do we ensure that the diverse possibilities of digital technologies and ommunication
contribute to strengthening discourse rather than leading to polarisation?

In our extensive foresight process, we, along with twelve experts, dared a look into the
future. Over six months, we jointly developed three robust future scenarios on the topic
of “Discourses and Democratic Public Sphere 2035” Central to this process were questions
such as:
▪ How might digitalisation change democratic processes?
▪ Where might new opportunities for participation arise? And where might power
dynamics shift?
▪ How could digital technologies alter the democratic public sphere and opinion
formation?
▪ How can technological developments be actively shaped?