Building Trust and Reinforcing Democracy: Preparing the Ground for Government Action sets out the core analysis behind the Reinforcing Democracy Initiative of the OECD Public Governance Committee. The Initiative builds on the 2021 and 2022 OECD Ministerial Council Statements and OECD Members’ vision for the Organisation for the next decade. It has the dual goal of reinforcing democratic governance in established democracies and protecting it from existing and emerging threats, highlighting that democratic governance has proven to be the best institutional system for the protection and promotion of individual rights and freedoms and for allowing long-term sustainable gains in well-being.

Democratic governance has proven to be the best institutional system for protecting and promoting individual rights and freedoms while allowing long-term sustainable gains in well-being. Yet, low voter turnout, greater political polarisation and larger groups of citizens dissociating themselves from traditional democratic processes represent challenges for policy makers in many OECD countries today. Even in the most well-established democracies, these trends are testing institutions and hindering governments’ ability to address pressing social and economic challenges. At the same time, major global disruptions, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian aggression against Ukraine, and climate change, have underscored the importance of strengthening the governance of democracies – and citizens’ trust in them.

The spread of mis- and disinformation poses a fundamental threat to the free and fact-based exchange of information that underpins democracy. This chapter discusses how governments can respond to mis- and disinformation through a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach. This includes preparing for and responding to the publication and spread of mis- and dis disinformation; preventing the publication and spread of mis- and dis- disinformation through increasing transparency; and reducing the economic and structural drivers of mis- and disinformation.

In a context of low levels of trust in government and dissociation of some groups of citizens from traditional democratic institutions, citizens are expecting public administrations to be more representative of their interests and needs. This chapter discusses how governments can respond through more inclusive public participation, including by protecting civic space, ensuring the integrity of the electoral process, averting undue influence in public-decision making, and promoting inclusive and well-governed stakeholder participation in rule making. It also looks at participatory policy making and service design and delivery, developing people’s capacities to participate in public decision making, and strengthening people-centred justice for greater participation and trust. The second section focuses on strengthening democratic representation, including making elected bodies and executives more representative of the population; fostering a diverse, representative, and responsive civil service; and delivering on the promise of representation.

Many of the policy challenges faced by countries at the domestic level are increasingly global in nature and require democracies to both deepen their models of governance, while protecting them from external foreign undue influence. This chapter first discusses how democracies can ensure that they are better able to address challenges that require global responses and co-operation, such as climate change, the implications of digital transformation, preventing future crises, and other problems with clear transboundary dimensions and knock-on effects. In particular, it looks at building public governance capacities, strengthening national institutions and leveraging governance tools and innovation to enhance capacity for global action. The chapter then explores how governments can build resilience to foreign undue influence by recognising and addressing loopholes in their governance systems that leave democratic societies at risk of undue influence from some autocratic regimes.

Successfully addressing climate change and other environmental goals is a challenge for democratic governments – they need to show that they are fit to handle this long-term, complex and systemic challenge, manage difficult trade-offs and achieve wider well-being outcomes. This chapter looks at the public governance changes needed to effectively implement urgent green policies and promote other social and economic priorities. It covers several key areas, including steering and building consensus and trust for delivering green, using the right tools for climate and environmental action, and leading by example through greening the public sector.

Digitalisation has opened new channels for citizen empowerment, political participation, and government transparency, enhancing people’s civil liberties and political rights. At the same time, it has brought new risks to the effective exercise of civil liberties and political rights. This chapter looks at the role of public governance institutions in enabling and enhancing digital democracy, while mitigating the risks of digitalisation to democracy. In particular, it discusses how to safeguard the integrity of elections and protect the democratic debate, foster citizen participation in the digital age, promote government transparency and accountability in the digital era, and adapting institutions and legal frameworks for digital democracy.