Jahres-Archive: 2026

Democracy Needs AAA — How EchoPolis Connects Participation with Responsibility

What happens after people have shared their views? For EchoPolis, this question belongs at the beginning of every participation process. Our approach brings together three ambitions: Agency, Advocacy and Accountability — AAA.
Was passiert, nachdem Menschen ihre Meinung eingebracht haben? Für EchoPolis gehört diese Frage an den Anfang jedes Beteiligungsprozesses. Unser Ansatz verbindet drei Ansprüche: Agency, Advocacy und Accountability – kurz AAA.

Still buzzing from Vienna. What an inspiring Political Communication Summit

Two intense days at Vienna City Hall in October – and exactly the kind of European gathering we need more of: people from politics, institutions, #civictech, media and campaigning coming together not simply to talk about communication, but to rethink how democracy communicates, listens and builds trust. 

Democracy Needs Connection – and a Response What Kim Lane Scheppele’s analysis means for listening, participation and democratic agency.

“Germany needs a CSU for the East” says Kim Lane Scheppele in her interview with Süddeutsche Zeitung. We read this as a call to examine how politics takes root in communities and how people feel recognised: Who is present on the ground? Who takes an interest in people’s experiences? Who credibly represents their concerns?

Democracy Needs More Than Defence. It Needs Agency.

In a recent ZEIT interview, sociologist Hartmut Rosa makes a striking point: populist movements do not only mobilise anger. They also mobilise hope, action and the feeling that something can still be changed.

Wenn Demokratie Menschen nicht mehr erreicht, gewinnen die Vereinfacher

Peter Uffelmann liefert in seinem Essay „Die dysregulierte Gesellschaft“ (2026) eine bemerkenswerte Antwort: Viele Menschen erleben die Gegenwart als permanenten Zustand von Unsicherheit, Veränderung und Kontrollverlust.

Automation, Repression — and the Missing Option: Voice

What happens when automation creates enormous economic gains, but those gains increasingly accrue to capital rather than labour?
A new NBER working paper by Daron Acemoglu, A. Arda Gitmez and Mehdi Shadmehr, Automation and Repression, examines precisely this question.

AI Is Changing Citizen Participation — From Consultation to Conversation

Artificial intelligence is beginning to transform democratic participation. A recent Süddeutsche Zeitung article, drawing on new OECD and Bertelsmann Stiftung research, shows how AI can make participation more accessible, scalable and meaningful.

Listening at Scale: How AI Can Strengthen Companies — and Democracy

From civic technology to organizational intelligence
eKairos operates in the civic-tech sphere with a clear ambition: to foster democracy by creating better infrastructures for listening, dialogue and collective intelligence.

Warum nur mehr Begegnung nicht hilft – und was EchoPolis anders macht

Contact Theory, Social Media und agonistische KI
Oft heißt es: „Wir müssen wieder miteinander reden.“ Die Annahme dahinter klingt plausibel: Wenn Menschen unterschiedlicher Gruppen mehr Kontakt haben, sinken Vorurteile, Polarisierung nimmt ab, Demokratie wird stabiler.

Against Naivety. For Democratic Reality.

Against Naivety. For Democratic Reality. We are often told that projects like eKairos are naive. Too slow. Too idealistic. Too human. We take that accusation seriously — and reject it.
What is truly naive is believing that democracy survives on autopilot.