Nurturing Virtues with Digital Democratic Innovations

Abstract Digital democratic innovations (DDIs) have been widely discussed as a promising way of engaging citizens in political decision-making. Extensive research has focused on designing DDIs that are deliberative, inclusive, and representative. However, little attention has been paid to DDIs’ potential for nurturing individual democratic virtues. Our paper aims to address this gap. We argue that the cultivation of democratic virtues should play a more central role when it comes to digital citizen participation. Specifically, we explore how deliberative DDIs can help participants develop virtuous qualities. Beyond providing a more participatory decision-making mechanism, DDIs should be seen as an opportunity for individuals to cultivate virtues and become better citizens. We distinguish between epistemic and moral virtues, and explore how DDIs can nurture them. To this end, we propose practical design features for DDI that could facilitate the cultivation of both epistemic and moral virtues.