Algorithmic Reordering for Plural Democracy
Yu-Shan Tseng · 2025
This chapter presents reordering – that engenders a renewed plural democracy. Reordering reconstructs political actions, actors and opinions within decision-making processes, potentially fostering a plural democracy. Reordering captures the liquid conditions and relations of decision-making processes facilitated by DDPs. Liquid plural democracy acknowledges reordering moments that pluralise actions, actors and opinions to open political orders that tend to foreclose democracy. The chapter compares different moments of reordering that push political actions, actors and opinions towards plural democracy in Decide Madrid and vTaiwan. For Decide Madrid, it examines the e-petition and participatory budgeting processes, both of which enable citizens to write, submit, support or/and vote on proposals about urban issues. For vTaiwan, the chapter focuses on hybrid consultation process that gathered opinions from stakeholders, experts and citizens who authored and voted on comments. Democratic cultures drive ongoing and open-ended processes of democratic participation, making them flow like an ever-lasting stream.