The Democracy Perception Index (DPI) is a cornerstone of the Copenhagen Democracy Summit, providing the most comprehensive global snapshot of public opinion on democracy.
The V-Dem Dataset – V-Dem
Includes the world's most comprehensive and detailed democracy ratings. The latest version of the dataset and associated reference documents can be downloaded free of charge below.
Government Ratings - Nira Data
Track global public opinion, political sentiment, and trust in government with insights from the 2025 Global Political Opinion Report.
Five dimensions of scaling democratic deliberation: With and beyond AI
DemocracyNext's new paper on Five dimensions of scaling democratic deliberation: With and beyond AI
Democracy x AI Cohort | Mozilla Foundation
The Democracy x AI cohort is founded on the hypothesis that, if built differently, AI could strengthen democracy rather than erode it.
Democracy Needs AI That Listens
From Taiwan's deliberative experiments to our own AI policy - featuring jdd-kami, the Civic AI that fits in a carry-on
AI Index | Stanford HAI
The mission of the AI Index is to provide unbiased, rigorously vetted, and globally sourced data for policymakers, researchers, journalists, executives, and the general public to develop a deeper understanding of the complex field of AI. To achieve this, we track, collate, distill, and visualize dat
The “De” In “Decentralization” Stands For “Democracy”
There’s a certain dark irony in watching tech billionaires who built their empires on the “democratizing power of technology” now actively working to dismantle democratic institut…
Democratic Governance of AI Is the Real Solution
The potential for catastrophic effects from the AI boom demands robust deliberation and real democratic governance. Localized initiatives like data center moratoria won't get us there.
What does it mean for AI to be democratic?
Some pushback on a specific fuzzy idea with some ominous implications
Perception of Global Leaders - Nira Data
Discover global leader rankings, approval ratings, and reputation insights in the 2025 Perception of World Leaders report.
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The Dispersion of Power: A Critical Realist Theory of Democracy
Abstract The Dispersion of Power is an urgent call to rethink centuries of conventional wisdom about what democracy is, why it matters, and how to make it better. Drawing from history, social science, psychology, and critical theory, it explains why elections do not and cannot realize the classic ideal of popular rule, and why prevailing strategies of democratic reform often make things worse. Instead, Bagg argues, we should see democracy as a way of protecting public power from capture—an alternative vision that is at once more realistic and more inspiring. Despite their many shortcomings, real-world elections do prevent the most extreme forms of tyranny, and are therefore indispensable. In dealing with the vast inequalities that remain, however, we cannot rely on standard solutions such as electoral reform, direct democracy, deliberation, and participatory governance. Instead, Bagg shows, protecting and enriching democracy requires addressing underlying inequalities of power directly. In part, this entails substantive policies attacking the advantages of wealthy elites. Even more crucially, deepening democracy requires the organization of oppositional, countervailing power among ordinary people. Neither task is easy, but historical precedents exist in both cases—and if democracy is to survive contemporary crises, leaders and citizens alike must find ways to revive and reinvent these essential democratic practices for the twenty-first century.
Democracy is an epistemic discipline, it only works if truth can constrain power. Without a faster, more transparent architecture for shared reality, the arc of democracy bends away from substance, through simulation, and toward authoritarianism. Without major action, it's the inevitable end state.
