TWIN4DEM: Strengthening Democratic Resilience Through Digital Twins

H2020

2025 - 2027 

Project leader (on behalf on CSS): Márton Gerő 

Project Participants: Zsolt Körtvélyesi, Csilla Zsigmond 

Over the past decade, many democratic systems have faced increasing threats from within, as governments gradually consolidate power—a process known as "executive aggrandisement." This trend has raised widespread concern among experts, policymakers, and citizens about the long-term stability of democracy in Europe. Despite the abundance of data on democracy, researchers have struggled to pinpoint the complex, multidimensional causes behind this phenomenon. Traditional

TWIN4DEM aims to change this by leveraging cutting-edge Computational Social Science (CSS) techniques, such as natural language processing, data aggregation, and dynamic simulation models, to analyse democratic decline. The project will prototype the first-ever digital twins of four European political systems: Czechia, France, Hungary, and the Netherlands. These digital twins will simulate real-world scenarios, helping researchers and stakeholders better understand the factors driving democratic erosion and the impact of policy decisions.

The project, set to begin on January 1, 2025, will run for three years and involves partners from across Europe, including Université Catholique de Lille (France), GESIS Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences (Germany), Fundazione Bruno Kessler (Italy), Linnaeus University (Sweden), Babeş-Bolyai University (Romania), HUN-REN Centre for Scial Sciences (Hungary), Charles University (Czechia), Eticas Research and Consulting (Spain), Democracy International (Germany), and Diadikasia Business Consulting (Greece). These institutions will collaborate to develop advanced tools for processing and analysing both textual and non-textual data in a more inclusive, participatory research environment.