#RSF2020 ep.I - The Digital Age. How to protect democratic values?

For the Riga Security Forum 2020: Podcast sessions opening, we offer you a high-level discussion with the President of the Republic of Latvia Egils Levits: “The Digital Age. How to protect democratic values?” The conversation will be chaired by Andris Sprūds, the director of the LIIA and Professor at Riga Stradiņš University.

The advent of the digital age had been seen as a new stage in the development of democracy around the world. Information and communication technologies provide greater access to knowledge, create a platform for communication, open up new opportunities for companies, and promote economic and social development.

Nevertheless, with the digital age development, the downsides and dissatisfaction of the era are becoming more and more pronounced. Technological developments are exacerbating much broader trends - the spread of disinformation, political polarization, cyberspace security, as well as many other challenges. What are the advantages and challenges that democratic societies must face in the digital age? How to protect democratic values? What would be essential to maintain and what to give up in the name of common growth? Given the speed of technological development, how far are we from the Fifth Industrial Revolution? How much will it dominate over society, and to what extent will it change the world?

More about the project learn here. 

Stay tuned! 

The project is the result of successful collaboration between the Latvian Institute of International Affairs (LIIA) the NATO Public Diplomacy Division, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Representation of the European Commission in Latvia, the German Federal Foreign Office, and Embassies of Poland, Canada, and Spain in Latvia.

Published 19 October 2020