Spurred by globalization and the COVID-19 pandemic, governments, businesses, and everyday citizens increased their reliance on digital technologies, profoundly reshaping the nature of communication, business, trade, and democratic governance. Seizing upon this rapid digital transformation, authoritarian governments increasingly leverage digital channels to promote anti-democratic narratives and practices that erode democratic markets and citizen trust in democratic institutions and norms.
In response, CIPE works with the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the International Republican Institute (IRI), and Stanford University’s Center on Democracy Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) to support government, civil society and local business to strengthen collaborative efforts to create democratic market norms and enhance technology-enabled civic engagement. Through this work, defenders of democracy will be able to articulate and advance a technology-enabled positive vision for democracy that responds to democratic challenges and builds more inclusive, equitable, and representative democracies in the digital era.