- About the project
The project “Unmute Democracy” is carried out in collaboration with VouliWatch and looks into the citizens’ stances towards the functioning of democracy in Greece today, recording both their perceptions of the main threats as well as their evaluations of potential institutional checks and balances, and also forms of political participation that could improve the quality of the democratic political system and strengthen citizens’ engagement in public affairs.
The research is based on a public opinion questionnaire that examines: (a) the evaluation of the way that democracy functions, (b) the threats that democracy is currently facing, (c) the pathologies of political parties, (d) attitudes towards electoral systems and forms of governance, (e) citizens’ willingness to participate politically at different levels, and (f) support for or opposition to institutional interventions concerning transparency, accountability, and the oversight of power.
- Research material
- Identity
The research project was launched in September 2025 and focuses on the study of the quality of democracy in Greece.
Project Coordinator: Dr Antonis Galanopoulos, PhD in Political Science, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (a.galanopoulos@eteron.org).
- Contributors
Fair Voting Methods as a Catalyst of Upgrading Democracy
A Trilogy on Legitimacy, Impact and AI Safeguarding
This article shows how fair voting methods can be a catalyst for change in the way we make collective decisions, and how such change can promote long-awaited upgrades of democ-racy. Based on real-world evidence from democratic innovations in participatory budgeting, in Switzerland and beyond, I highlight a trilogy of key research results: Fair voting methods achieve to be (i) legitimacy incubator, (ii) novel impact accelerator and (iii) safeguard for risks of artificial intelligence (AI).
Compared to majoritarian voting methods, combining expressive ballot formats (e.g. cumulative voting) with ballot aggregation methods that promote pro-portional representation (e.g. equal shares) results in more winners and higher (geographical) representation of citizens. Such fair voting methods are preferred and found fairer even by voters who do not win, while promoting stronger democratic values for citizens such as altruism and compromise.
They also result in new resourceful ideas to put for voting, which are cost-effective and win, especially in areas of welfare, education and culture. Strikingly, fair voting methods are also more resilient to biases and inconsistencies of generative AI in emerging scenarios of AI voting assistance or AI representation of voters who would be likely to abstain. I also review the relevance of such upgrades for democracies in crisis, such as the one of Greece featured in the recent study of ‘Unmute Democracy’. Greek democracy can build stronger resilience via higher representation of citizens in democratic processes as well as democratic innovations in participation. Fair voting methods can be a catalyst for both endeavors.
