ABSTRACT This study examines how community radio constructs local identity and enables democratic participation in rural Ghana, addressing critical gaps in understanding the intersection of community media, identity formation, and civic engagement in developing contexts. Through ethnographic research conducted at Simli Radio in the Kumbungu District of Northern Ghana, this research explores the mechanisms through which community radio stations create spaces for marginalized voices while constructing collective identities that foster democratic participation. The findings reveal that community radio operates as both a medium of communication and a site of identity construction through four primary mechanisms: communal ownership structures, local language broadcasting policies, participatory programming formats, and innovative technological adaptations. The study demonstrates that Radio Listener Clubs, phone-in segments, Simli Connect Centers and community journalism model of broadcast reporting create multiple avenues for community participation that transcend traditional barriers to civic engagement. However, socio-cultural constraints limit these participatory potentials. The research contributes to development communication literature by providing empirical evidence of how community radio democratizes communication spaces in rural Africa, while offering practical insights for policymakers and development practitioners seeking to enhance civic participation through community media initiatives.

Abstract This paper examines the relationship between feminist manifestos and constituent power, focusing on the Chilean feminist movement. Manifestos have long been an influential political tool in shaping political identities and claiming power. However, they are often overlooked in constitutional law. This paper addresses this gap by exploring feminist manifestos, which have been pivotal in denouncing historical exclusion, forming political groups and asserting constituent power. Drawing on the work of Ruth Houghton and Aoife O’Donoghue, the paper investigates how feminist manifestos challenge traditional notions of constituent power. However, it argues that their performative conception of power overlooks the vital role of political representation. The paper argues that political representation is crucial for a fully realised theory of feminist constituent power, as it enables collective action and democratic participation. By looking at the Chilean feminist movement’s involvement in the 2019–2022 constitution-making process, the paper demonstrates how feminist movements, through strategies such as manifestos and strikes, can influence constitutional change, while also highlighting the limitations of excluding political representation from the conversation. Ultimately, the paper asserts that feminist manifestos can reimagine constituent power, but their full potential is limited without a comprehensive understanding of political representation.

AI is reshaping governance in Kenya, not only through bias and misinformation but through a deeper process of algorithmic colonialism, where external technologies distort African languages and political realities. Due to limited linguistic coverage and foreign dominance in digital infrastructure, AI systems undermine epistemic access and democratic participation. This paper argues for a Pan-African AI Sovereignty Agency to build sovereign AI hubs, cultural data libraries, and public foundation models, enabling the continent to reclaim algorithmic sovereignty and ensure epistemic autonomy.

One of the most urgent challenges facing democracies is a widening digital divide: wealthier groups will increasingly access expert verified information while lower income communities will not be given tools to navigate an online environment increasingly filled with convincing AI generated content. To safeguard democratic participation, we must democratize AI literacy and detection tools, and integrate civic education. Only by reinforcing these initiatives can democracy remain resilient in the age of AI.

ABSTRACT This study investigates radical care as a conceptual framework that links affective, material, and ethical practices of mutual support to processes of urban sustainability, inclusivity, and democratic participation in Tampere, Finland. It examines three grassroots initiatives – a cultural cooperative, an autonomous art centre, and a community gardening project – highlighting their role in fostering citizen engagement, creativity, and collective care in public spaces. Guided by this framework, the study explores how care-oriented practices function as relational infrastructures that sustain participation and ecological awareness rather than as measurable impacts. Through interviews and site visits, the analysis identifies three key dimensions: citizen participation, the fusion of artistic and urban care practices, and transformative pedagogies that promote public learning and engagement. These initiatives serve as public hubs for civic participation, amplifying voices of youth, migrants, and marginalised groups, while nurturing social sustainability, resilience, and ecological awareness. Operating as informal civic classrooms, they mobilise care as a democratic and pedagogical act, countering neoliberal urbanism and eco-gentrification through relational commons built on collective action. Situated in the Nordic context, the study contributes to debates on urban sustainability transitions, positioning grassroots actors as vital agents of inclusive urban futures. It offers policy recommendations for integrating radical care and grassroots pedagogies into municipal and educational strategies, advocating care as central to socially just, intercultural urban transformation.

ABSTRACT This paper challenges conventional assumptions about education's role in fostering democratic participation by examining voting patterns in rural Bangladesh. Where theory predicts education should enhance electoral engagement, our findings reveal a striking paradox: Higher educational attainment systematically predicts lower voting rates, a result particularly prominent among younger citizens. Using nationally (rurally) representative data from the Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey (BIHS) and employing rigorous econometric approaches—logit, Poisson and propensity score matching models—we document this counterintuitive relationship across both national and local elections. This democratic dissonance—where education appears to breed electoral disaffection rather than civic activation—suggests that in democratically fragile settings, formal education may heighten awareness of systemic deficiencies rather than catalyse participation, thereby providing critical insights for governance stakeholders, development practitioners and policymakers addressing governance challenges in contexts where formal democratic structures exist but meaningful civic engagement remains elusive. Overall, this paper transcends conventional accounts of electoral participation by illuminating how educated citizens in fragile democracies may strategically withdraw from electoral processes as a rational response to perceived systemic deficiencies.

This article explores the connection between historical and political learning as well as their contribution to the promotion of democratic consciousness in Austrian lower secondary education. The analysis is based on the assumption that students need not only historical orientation skills but also competence in political judgement and political action to develop into historically critical, mature citizens. Against this background, the Austrian curriculum for the combined subject of History and Civic Education at the lower secondary education level was categorised historically and examined for points of reference regarding the promotion of democratic consciousness. Using the deductively derived categories of democracy, orientation and maturity, the article finds that while the curriculum refers to democratic values and human rights as an overarching goal, historical and political competences are not consistently linked. In addition, it includes teachers’ perspectives on the subject combination of history and civic education and their teaching and learning objectives. The analysis of 43 expert interviews shows that the combination of subjects is mainly considered from the perspective of history teaching. Although the interviewed teachers make various references to democratic participation in the present or to citizenship, many of them find it difficult to systematically relate the different subject perspectives (historical, political, democratic) to each other. To further explore this relationship between historical consciousness and democratic consciousness, the article concludes that more interdisciplinary cooperation between the respective subject didactics is ultimately needed.

In February 2025, Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) founder Abdullah Öcalan, imprisoned since 1999, called on the organization to disarm. The group swiftly complied, first declaring a cease-fire in March and then, in May, formally announcing its readiness to dissolve if the Turkish government recognized Kurdish identity and enabled meaningful democratic participation. What does this mean for a half-century struggle spanning Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and Iran? Is it the end of the PKK or the emergence of PKK 3.0, a shift from armed insurgency to transnational political action? The outcome of this unfolding chain of events will depend on Turkish leadership, regional alignments, and sustained Western engagement, with far-reaching consequences for Kurds, Turkey, and the future of the Middle East.

This paper outlines a collaborative university-community initiative, Building Bridges, Not Walls: The Democracy and Diversity Project. Building Bridges emphasizes the critical role of community engagement in reducing barriers to democratic participation, social equity, and student success. In pursuit of these outcomes, we present a model of a sustainable, accessible, and cross-disciplinary network of sequenced engagement projects. The interconnected cross-curricular projects are mutually designed and implemented with community partners, providing an emulatable case study to promote civic engagement in multiple contexts and communities. Building Bridges mobilizes sociological theory to consider the question of how universities can be regularly engaged with our communities in a consistent, collaborative, and sustainable manner. Informed by 'service sociology' literature we outline four stages of our Building Bridges model: design, implementation, evaluation, and reflective revision. These stages are concretized through application to our public university and community, providing a template for other universities and communities to follow. We propose integrated engagement as a means for universities to combat challenges to equity and diversity. As our communities face unprecedented tests to our democratic institutions, we contend that community engagement is higher education’s keenest armament.

Relevance . The current trends in the development of the constitutional right to appeal pose a number of new challenges for lawmakers and law enforcement practices. Despite the recognized importance of the constitutional right to appeal as a means of democratic participation in the management of state affairs, as well as the protection of human rights, freedoms and legitimate interests, fundamental issues related to its essence, legal nature and functional purpose remain the subject of scientific discussion and require in-depth theoretical analysis to form a holistic scientific concept of this institution. Purpose ‒ comprehensive disclosure of the essence of the constitutional right to appeal through the analysis of its key functions. Objectives : to identify and systematize the key functions of the constitutional right to appeal, which determine its socio-legal purpose; to reveal its public-legal nature through the prism of the interaction of private and public interests; to substantiate the protective role of the constitutional right to appeal as a necessary procedural condition for the realization of the vast majority of constitutional rights, freedoms and legitimate interests; establish criteria for classifying this right as an institution of direct democracy. Methodology . The present research is based on a comprehensive methodological approach combining general scientific (dialectical, integrative, systemic, analysis, synthesis) and special legal (formal legal) methods of cognition. The basis of the study was the method of functional analysis. Results . The identifies the key functions of the constitutional right to appeal (informational, human rights, security, control, communication, management) comprehensively revealing its essence and legal nature. Conclusion . The constitutional right to appeal has a multifunctional essence, which is manifested in the possibility of: informing public authorities about emerging problems in various spheres of public life, protecting and restoring violated rights, freedoms and legitimate interests, preventing offenses, ensuring the implementation of a wide range of constitutional rights, freedoms and legitimate interests, exercising public control, establishing a feedback channel between the government and citizens, as well as direct influence on the process of making managerial decisions.

Public sector innovations often fail if they do not meet citizens’ expectations. However, little is known about how well public servants understand these expectations. This study identifies a perception gap between citizens and public servants regarding innovation characteristics, which are specific attributes of public sector innovations that shape citizen support and legitimacy. Using Q-methodology with Swiss citizens and public servants, we identify four distinct citizen groups: result-centric, trust-centric, certainty-centric, and cost- and rule-of-law-centric. Each group emphasizes different characteristics, such as ease of use, efficiency, trialability, and trust. By contrast, public servants perceive only three homogenized citizen groups – customer-centric, trust-centric, and result-centric – overlooking expectations related to democratic participation and co-creation. This mismatch risks undermining the legitimacy and adoption of innovations. The study advances a citizen-centred view of innovation characteristics, highlights the importance of citizen heterogeneity, and provides practical guidance on designing innovations that align with diverse citizen expectations.

In recent years, responsible consumption has emerged as a central practice in organizational transformation towards more sustainable and socially committed models; however, the real impact of these initiatives in terms of social equity has not yet been sufficiently systematized in the scientific literature. This systematic review analyzed organizational responsible consumption initiatives and their contribution to social equity by searching Scopus and Web of Science, applying the PRISMA 2020 protocol to identify, select, and analyze empirical studies published between 2010 and 2025 globally. From 228 documents initially identified, 47 studies that met the eligibility criteria were included after a rigorous selection process. The results revealed a taxonomy of eleven thematic clusters of organizational initiatives that address multiple dimensions of equity: access, distributive, recognition, participatory, contextual, environmental, social, temporal, technological, and relational. Public and social organizations are leading initiatives for equitable access and democratic participation, while the private sector focuses on sustainable business models and technological innovation. The most effective initiatives integrate multiple dimensions of equity and prevent the reproduction of existing inequalities. However, significant limitations were identified, such as greenwashing risks, scalability challenges, and unequal benefit sharing. Evidence suggests that the transformative potential of responsible consumption critically depends on systemic approaches, cross-sector partnerships, and institutional frameworks that ensure long-term, sustainable, equitable impacts.

Civic virtues include behaviours such as civic engagement, social responsibility, and altruism, which are vital for democratic participation (Onyx & Bullen, 2016). The purpose of this study was to investigate the presence of civic virtues in Zambian society, particularly in Lusaka’s Kanyama and Mandevu communities, using a qualitative approach. The research employed an exploratory case study design and purposive sampling to select a study sample of 25 participants until saturation was achieved. The data was analysed thematically, based on themes and subthemes that emerged. The results showed that Civic virtues like trust and empathy are valued but often undermined by corruption and individualism. While communities offer strong examples of cooperation, practising these virtues was challenged by conservative societal norms that marginalise progressive values. Strengthening civic life requires structural change and inclusive engagement. Other implications are discussed.

Introduction This study investigates social media–based political participation among Generation Z in North Sumatra, a multicultural region representing Indonesia’s sociocultural diversity. The research integrates a modified UTAUT model with connective action theory to explain how technological factors shape political engagement in digital environments. Methods Data were collected from 500 university students and analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The model assesses the effects of performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions on behavioral intention and actual political participation, with political awareness tested as a moderating variable. Results The findings show that behavioral intention significantly mediates the relationship between technological determinants and political participation. Political awareness strengthens or weakens these relationships, and higher levels of political awareness are associated with lower intention to use platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook for political activities. The results also reveal the emergence of third spaces or hybrid activism that blend online and offline participation. Discussion These results demonstrate that social media enables flexible and decentralized political engagement while highlighting the complex role of civic awareness in shaping digital political behavior. The integrated framework advances the literature on digital politics by explaining how personalized political expression, technology use, and civic awareness interact to influence democratic participation in multicultural contexts.

ABSTRACT As artificial intelligence rapidly evolves, the complexity of navigating an information landscape saturated with synthetic content, misinformation, and disinformation is amplified. Deepfakes, AI‐generated texts, and algorithmically curated media increasingly challenge public trust and informed democratic participation. This article explores how GenAI‐manipulated media affects faculty and learners, highlighting the need to strengthen critical digital and media literacy across higher education environments. Drawing on recent research and adult education literature, the manuscript explores epistemic rights, the influence of misinformation on public opinion, and the role of critical thinking in resisting deceptive content. It presents practical, research‐based strategies that faculty in higher education can adopt to facilitate learning about source evaluation, manipulation recognition, digital verification techniques, and AI tools to combat misinformation. By fostering a culture of critical inquiry, faculty can empower learners to navigate complex media environments, engage in informed civic discourse, and contribute to a more equitable and resilient democratic society.

In this article we examine the principle of clear and comprehensible language in Brazilian public administration, originally established in Article 3, VII, of the Digital Government Law (Law No. 14,129/2021) and recently strengthened by the enactment of the National Plain Language Policy (Law No. 15,263/2025). It argues that intelligible public communication is not merely a stylistic preference but a normative requirement that structures transparency, democratic participation, and administrative efficiency in the digital State. Through documentary analysis of legislation, doctrinal developments, and institutional initiatives—including ENAP’s Rede Linguagem Simples Brasil, ANA’s Plain Language Program, and judicial efforts under the National Pact for Plain Language—the study maps emerging best practices and persistent challenges, such as cultural resistance, lack of objective clarity standards, and federative asymmetries in implementation. Special attention is given to the legal implications of transforming plain language into an enforceable duty, including the prohibition of nonstandard “neutral language” forms under Article 5, XI, of Law No. 15,263/2025, which reinforces the need for linguistic predictability and adherence to the VOLP. The article concludes by proposing methodological guidelines and governance mechanisms—such as readability metrics, communicative audits, and national drafting protocols—to institutionalize plain language as a central component of good administration and digital citizenship in Brazil.

Tunisia and Lebanon, two states with distinct political trajectories, face converging crises of democratic governance marked by systemic corruption, economic hardship, and public disillusionment. Tunisia’s democratic gains following the Arab Spring are now threatened by authoritarian regression, while Lebanon’s consociational power-sharing system has led to institutional paralysis. Despite these challenges, both countries retain vibrant civil societies, histories of mobilisation, and a desire for participatory governance, offering entry points for democratic innovation. This article explores the potential of citizens’ assemblies (CAs) in these contexts and their possible contribution to fostering new political imaginaries and forms of democratic participation within limited institutionalisation. While CAs have gained traction in the Global North as institutionalised deliberative processes, their application in politically fragile contexts in the Global South raises critical questions around context, adaptability, and legitimacy. Drawing on a four-year multi-sited fieldwork study and three case studies of CAs on energy justice in Lebanon and Tunisia, this article examines how CAs can be designed and implemented amid politically volatile environments and failing institutions. Ultimately, the article contributes to democratic debates on democratic innovation by highlighting the trade-offs between institutionalisation and transformative potential. It positions CAs not as universal models, but as agile democratic tools that can empower citizens and foster alternative bottom-up governance imaginaries.

Background Digital Politics is considered one of the tremendous factors of improving political participation and encouraging civic duties among youth across Europe. This study examines how digitalization has transformed political participation among young adults in contemporary Europe. Method Through a meta-synthesis of 30 scholarly articles published between 2014 and 2025 on the Web of Science database and relevant sites, the study adopts a systematic qualitative meta-synthesis design to assess how digitalization influences political participation among young adults in contemporary Europe. Drawing on mobilization theory, it explores how digital technologies such as e-democracy, e-governance, and social media platforms have redefined youth political engagement, lowering barriers to participation and fostering new forms of civic activism. Results The results show that digitalization has expanded political arenas beyond traditional structures, creating accessible and decentralized spaces for expression, mobilization, and collective action. Movements such as Fridays for Future illustrate how online activism translates into transnational political engagement. However, the study also identifies significant challenges associated with digital politics. Persistent digital divides, disparities in technological literacy, and unequal access to infrastructure hinder equitable participation across Europe. Furthermore, cyber insecurity, misinformation, and slacktivism undermine the transformative potential of digital politics by fostering polarization and reducing the depth of civic commitment. Despite these challenges, digitalization remains a catalyst for participatory innovation, particularly when coupled with media literacy initiatives and inclusive digital governance frameworks. Conclusion The study concludes that a sustainable digital democracy requires cross-sectoral collaboration between governments, civil society, and educational institutions to promote digital equity, enhance accountability, and counter polarization. By integrating findings from across Europe, this research contributes to understanding how digital transformation simultaneously empowers and constrains democratic participation in the 21st century.

ABSTRACT This study examines the relationship between political information-seeking and online political participation among youth in a polymedia environment. Using a multiwave survey of university students in China’s Yangtze River Delta, this study tests hypotheses based on information dissemination theory and media affordances. Findings reveal that political information-seeking needs positively influence online political participation, mediated by platform swinging. Media literacy moderates the impact of political information-seeking on platform swinging. Youth with higher media literacy navigate diverse platforms more effectively to meet their political information needs. This study provides insights into youth political behavior and democratic participation through targeted media literacy programs.

ABSTRACT South African community-based organisations (CBOs) are integral to participatory democracy in South Africa, yet few studies have been done on South African CBO communication, including little research on CBO’s choice of collective action frames and their political efficacy. Therefore, this research analysed the collective action frames of two Johannesburg CBOs, i.e. the Inner City Resource Centre, a housing rights organisation, and One Voice of All Hawkers Association, a street traders organisation. Using organisational documents, and notes on member and office bearers’ communication (at Participatory Action Research workshops organised by the researcher and during ethnographic observation), the analysis identified the key frames used by each organisation and the extent to which they were useful for building power, in terms of building solidarity (logic of membership) and/or challenging the political status quo in inner-city Johannesburg (logic of influence). The main frames identified were claims-making (poverty and rights), contesting government (crime and grime) and insider/outsider frames (xenophobia/anti-xenophobia). While these were somewhat useful in attracting members, they were not powerful enough to challenge the City of Johannesburg’s neglect of its marginalised residents.