AI-Enabled Digital Governance and the Future of Local Democracy: Trust, Transparency, Digital Inequalities and Political Disaffection

AI is rapidly transforming the way local governments design, deliver and manage public services. AI-powered digital services, algorithmic decision-making systems, intelligent chatbots and predictive analytics are increasingly becoming part of citizens' everyday interactions with local administrations. As algorithmic systems become embedded in public organisations, they reshape administrative routines and decision-making processes, raising important questions about transparency, accountability and democratic oversight. While these developments promise greater efficiency, responsiveness and transparency, they also raise fundamental political questions concerning democratic legitimacy, citizens' trust, equality and the accountability of public institutions.
Local governments have become the primary arena for digital innovation and smart governance initiatives, making them a particularly relevant setting for examining how artificial intelligence reshapes democratic governance and citizen-government relations. Citizens' everyday experiences with digital public services therefore play an increasingly important role in shaping perceptions of institutional responsiveness, procedural fairness and trust—or distrust—in democratic institutions. However, despite the rapid expansion of AI-enabled public services, their broader consequences for democratic legitimacy and local democracy remain insufficiently understood. Existing research has primarily examined digital government and artificial intelligence from administrative, managerial or technological perspectives, while paying comparatively less attention to their political implications for democratic legitimacy, citizen trust and citizen-state relations.
This panel seeks to explore how artificial intelligence and digital transformation are reshaping local democracy from the perspective of citizens. Rather than assuming that digitalisation automatically improves governance, the panel examines the conditions under which digital technologies strengthen—or weaken—citizens' trust, transparency, participation and political support. Particular attention will be devoted to the role of algorithmic governance, digital inequalities, transparency, institutional responsiveness, citizen satisfaction, political disaffection and democratic resilience.
The panel welcomes both theoretical and empirical contributions employing qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods. Comparative analyses, cross-national studies and local case studies are especially encouraged.