We are in a new era of democratic emergency, plummeting trust, democratic backsliding and rising nationalist authoritarianism. People are not just turning against political actors, but the democratic system they occupy.
The fight for trust isn’t about political positioning on the right or left or the scale or nature of the state. We need to disrupt democracy itself. The way to secure our future for the common good is to upgrade democracy for the next era. We need a new deal to repair the broken relationship between citizens and the state.
Demos’s mission is big and ambitious, but our methods are practical, bold and hopeful.
We develop new policy and practice in four areas:
- Everyday Democracy – new practices and institutions to upgrade democracy and rebuild trust between state and citizen, and between citizens
- Public service reform – person-centred and preventative services that deliver for people and restore faith in government
- The Citizen Economy – a new economic deal between citizens, government and markets, in which work, tax, investment and markets deliver good growth
- Resilient Information Ecosystems – strengthened information supply chains to break the cycles of misinformation and mistrust that fuel democratic decline
