E-Participation in Post-Pandemic-Times: A Silver Bullet for Democracy in the Twenty-First Century?

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a surge in online communication, offering a unique burning glass perspective on the advantages of transferring formerly face-to-face conversations online as well as uncovering limitations of using technical applications to this end. These experiences are of great importance for the development of new e-participation instruments. So far, digital participation has failed to match the quality of real-world procedures. This paper discusses various emerging formats for online participation and their prerequisites. Blended participation models, in particular, appear to offer the most promise, enhancing negotiation processes between heterogenous social groups and facilitating responsive policy making.