POLYAS supports Master student Karola Marky’s research work in the field of liquid democracy with Dr. Melania Volkamer at the Technische Universität Darmstadt. The joint project VALID (Verifiable Liquid Democracy) was covered.
The goal of the scientific research project, begun on 01-04-2015 and set to continue for two years, is initially to systematically assess and categorise the available scientific literature on liquid democracy so as to ultimately work out the technical requirements for a liquid democracy system. The results of te project will either be published for a research conference or a technical report.
The term “liquid democracy” is defined as an alternative form of democracy that contains both representative-democratic as well as direct-democratic decisions. A core element of this approach is the so-called delegated voting principle, in which the voter can decide on an individual basis (“floating”) if they would like to cast their own ballot for an upcoming decision, or if they would rather delegate their right to vote to another individual. For instance, this third party may be an expert in the same area the decision concerns.
