Is Your Vote Losing Value? Digital Challenges to Electoral Democracy

Contemporary electoral democracy emerged and has been concentrated mainly in the global North. That may be changing. There have been significant recent shifts towards more authoritarian politics and governance within Northern democracies. There are a range of apparent causes, and no clear indications of the likely long-term trend. However, the adverse impacts on the politics of digitalisation, especially the explosion of social media use, justify some pessimism. Even at its best, electoral democracy has always been a very imperfect mechanism for ensuring government by the people. Large proportions of voters routinely vote expressively – i.e. according to their identity, beliefs, or values – rather than instrumentally, i.e. to maximise their chances of influencing the outcome. Digitalisation increases pressures to vote expressively and reduces the scope to vote instrumentally. There are signs of contemporary convergence between formally democratic and evidently authoritarian regimes. In both, governments rely increasingly on digital media to confuse their voters and citizens.