Audrey Tang

Taiwan’s first Digital Minister (2016–2024) and one of the most influential practitioners of digital democracy globally. A self-taught programmer and civic hacker, Tang pioneered the use of tools like Polis and vTaiwan to enable large-scale participatory deliberation and consensus-building. Her work represents a real-world case study in how technology can be designed to serve civil society rather than extract from it.

Tang’s approach to governance — radical transparency, “rough consensus” over majority rule, civic participation at scale — directly illustrates the metapolitical potential of Network Nations. Her experience with digital public infrastructure (g0v, the civic tech movement in Taiwan) shows that states can act as enablers of commons-based governance rather than obstacles to it. Her presence in the podcast’s episode on meta-politics reflects the series’ aim to learn from real governance innovations.

Appears in: Ep 7: Meta-Politics