Demokratie und Technikfolgenabschätzung. Praktische Herausforderungen und konzeptionelle Konsequenzen - Einleitung

Technology Assessment (TA) emerged about fifty years ago in order to support democratic debate and decision-making. It developed further, expanded and diversified in Western democratic societies. Contemporarily, this TA model is facing several challenges with major ones of them being: (1) Many Western states are confronted with a significant growth of populism and nationalism, leading to a crisis of the traditional democratic model. (2) The ongoing digitalization enables new patterns and mechanisms of political communication far beyond traditional forms of public debates. (3) The significance of deliberative and participatory approaches involving civic society for debating new technology and decision-making is still increasing. This introduction shall unfold and explain these challenges and provide an overview of the entire Special Issue.