Territorial Governance in Transition: Multi-Level Frameworks, Citizen Participation, and Digital Transformation (2018–2026)

Abstract

From 2018 to 2025, the combination of the democratic deficit and growing digitalization caused significant changes to territorial governance. To understand these changes, this study assembles the data of more than thirty countries from five different continents and describes the following three interrelated phenomena: the restructuring of multi-level governance systems, the establishment of participatory practices at the subnational level, and the growing use of digital instruments to transform public accountability and service provision. Using a longitudinal framework, the study develops a composite governance frame-work and provides several case studies. The study identifies a path-dependent, convergent model of decentralization, whereby governance systems brought participatory practices closer to citizens and created new challenges for governance systems integration. The results of the study indicate the first tangible benefits of advanced territorial governance in the regions of interest. The results of the study also show that from 2018 to 2025, the countries of the study witnessed significant progress in decentralization (the level of decentralization increased in all benchmark countries), and there was a significant improvement in the Citizen Participation Index: European Union (from 58 to 72), Latin America (from 45 to 60), Southeast Asia (from 38 to 55), and Sub-Saharan Africa (from 32 to 50). When digital platforms are incorporated into strong institutional systems, they improve transparency, citizen participation, and service improvement. Nevertheless, unequal digital access and imbalanced regional administrative capacity result in differing regional systems of territorial governance. The study also provides an integrated policy system for the digitally integrated, inclusive, resilient, and adaptive territorial governance systems and the governance challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Sustainable Development Goals.