Digitalization as a policy response to social acceleration: Comparing democratic problem solving in Denmark and the Netherlands

Abstract

Social acceleration – the progressively faster rate of technological, social and life-pace change – poses a dilemma for democratic problem solving: It increases the amount of new social problems emerging on the political agenda and hence amplifies the demand for rapid and effective policy solutions. Democratic politics is, however, slow. So either the political system speeds up decision making at the cost of democracy, or it holds on to democracy at the cost of problem solving. Obviously, neither option is desirable. How do governments try to solve this dilemma and provide positive-sum solutions that are both effective and democratic? We present two so-called paradigm cases of governments, in Denmark and the Netherlands, that have developed a remarkably quick and effective digitalization response to social acceleration. By focusing on four markers – (1) awareness and timing; (2) motivation; (3) new strategic goals; and (4) goal-directed strategic policy action – we theorize how governments aim to solve the dilemma for democratic problem solving under conditions of social acceleration.