New Paths for Collective Action in the Age of Hyperpolitics

Democracy thrives on imagination, collective action, and active participation. As we face the challenges of ‘Hyperpolitics’, individualization, and democratic backsliding, it’s time to reimagine how we engage citizens, build trust, and design systems that empower shared responsibility for long-term change.

Let me start with my own journey into working with (futures of) democracy on a deeper level. It has been anything, but linear. In my early twenties, as young people do, I pivoted from wanting to be an anthropologist to a historian, a diplomat, an innovation specialist, and finally ending up becoming a futurist and an entrepreneur.

Photo by Joseph Chan on Unsplash

Each subtle shift reflected my curiosity and a desire to see the bigger picture. It wasn’t until I discovered futures studies that I realized I’d found the perfect field—one that brings together multidisciplinary perspectives to explore how societies and systems change over time and, crucially, how we can shape the futures we want to see.

The Age of ‘Hyperpolitics’

Futures work, especially when applied to democracy, connects deeply with the core of what it means to live in and shape a society. Democracy, in its modern sense, arose from the imaginative leap that we could envision a better future. Thomas More’s Utopia, published over 500 years ago, is a powerful example of this. It laid the groundwork for imagining a world where people had agency over their collective destiny. This act of imagining mobilized the masses, leading to revolutions that shaped the democratic principles we now take for granted.

But today, democracy faces a new kind of challenge. We live in an age of what some call ‘Hyperpolitics’ (Anton Jäger). Everything feels political, yet collective action has become elusive. Social media and algorithm-driven individualization have amplified personal expression while eroding our capacity to work together on shared goals. Communities fracture, long-term commitments dwindle, and our ability to address systemic challenges—climate change, inequality, democratic backsliding—weakens.

As hyperpolitics intensifies, individuals retreat into reactive postures, expressing opinions but disengaging from the messy, sustained work of building systems that can create meaningful change. It’s not hard to see why. Collective action requires trust, accountability, and a belief that one’s efforts matter. These qualities are in short supply as institutions seem to falter and polarization deepens.

Democracy and Futures: Intrinsically Linked

Democracy has always been an act of collective imagination. It doesn’t exist in the abstract but as something we create through conversation, debate, and action. At its best, democracy is messy, iterative, and deeply human—a system that recognizes the value of disagreement while working toward shared goals. But it is also fragile.

In my work, I often return to the idea that democracy is a debate we constantly invent. Like futures thinking, it’s about opening up space to imagine what could be rather than resigning ourselves to what is. Both require us to challenge assumptions, to question systems that no longer serve us, and to believe in the possibility of something better.

The modern crisis of democracy isn’t just about backsliding or the erosion of trust in institutions. It’s about a loss of imagination. Many people see democracy as something that happens to them rather than something they are part of. This “stealth democracy” mindset assumes that experts will handle things behind the scenes, leaving citizens free to opt out. But democracy can’t function without active participation.

The Challenges We Face

Globally, democracy is under pressure from multiple fronts:

• Rising inequalities fracture societies and concentrate power.

• Misinformation and manipulation thrive in a fragmented media landscape, eroding trust.

• Individualization, driven by algorithmic echo chambers, pulls people away from shared realities.

• Polarization, both political and social, deepens divisions and discourages meaningful dialogue.

We create technology, but technology, in turn, shapes us. The digital age has redefined how we interact, how we form opinions, and how we engage with governance. While these forces disintegrate societal glue, they also create opportunities to rethink and rebuild.

Rethinking Collective Action

If democracy is to thrive, we need to reimagine how we build political communities. Sustainable change is a team effort, not a solo mission. To move forward, we must design systems that inspire engagement, foster accountability, and empower collective action.

Here are some potential avenues:

• Citizen assemblies. Bringing everyday people into structured, deliberative processes where they can weigh complex issues and shape policy. This builds trust and re-engages citizens with decision-making.

• Augmented democracy. Leveraging technology (digital twins primarily) to enable more direct and transparent forms of participation while ensuring accessibility and equity.

• Community-Level engagement. Relocalizing decision-making to bring power closer to people’s lived realities. This creates tangible connections between governance and daily life.

• Education and Folk Bildung: In Denmark, the concept of “dannelse” (key part of the word ‘uddannelse’’, the Danish word for education) captures the idea of shaping ‘whole’ citizens who are both knowledgeable and engaged. We need to rethink civic education to empower people with the tools to participate meaningfully in democracy and in turn, society.

A Crisis, But Also an Opportunity

It’s easy to despair about the state of democracy, but crises often hold the seeds of transformation. The young generation, often labeled apathetic, gives me hope. Their critiques of the status quo are not a sign of disengagement but of a desire for something better. They have creativity, energy, and agency—qualities we must nurture rather than suppress.

At its heart, democracy is about shared power. It’s a principle that requires us to believe in the collective over the individual, to prioritize the long term over the short term, and to accept that we may not always be right. These ideas are difficult, but they’re worth fighting for.

The work of reimagining and rebuilding democracy is ongoing. It’s not about finding quick fixes but about fostering a culture where people feel empowered to engage, where trust can be rebuilt, and where we can dream together about a better future.

Democracy is, and always has been, a conversation—and we all have a role to play in keeping it alive.