POLITICAL PARTICIPATION AND E-DEMOCRACY: CHALLENGES AMID RUSSIA’S INVASION OF UKRAINE

Abstract

The article examines the transformation of political participation in Ukraine during the full-scale Russian invasion, with particular emphasis on the functioning of e-democracy as a potential compensatory mechanismcapable of sustaining citizen –state interaction under conditions where fundamental democratic procedures are restricted. The aim of the study is to assess the extent to which e-democracy tools – such as petitions, participatory budgeting, and digital consultations – can ensure inclusive, secure, and impactful political participation during wartime, and to identify structural and institutional barriers limiting their effectiveness. The article also explores the specifics of digital interaction under martial law, including trust crises, unequal access, legal deficiencies, andthe limited responsiveness of public authorities.The research is grounded in structural-functional and institutional approaches, which allow e-democracy to be viewed as both a tool of civic inclusion and an indicator of the state of public governance. The study draws on content analysis of regulatory documents, analytical reports, sociological surveys, and examples of local and internationalpractices. It focuses on phenomena such as the formalization of digital participation channels – particularly petitions – and the lack of meaningful feedback from the state. Using the example of the «Diia» platform, the paper illustratesboth the advantages of digitalized public services and the challenges related to the limited political functionality of specific participation tools. The analysis also includes local self-government cases, where participatory budgeting and e-platforms prove effective yet remain vulnerable due to the absence of consistent implementation monitoring. The novelty of the study lies in its interpretation of e-democracy not merely as a technical process but as a political-societal system that either strengthens governmental legitimacy or, in the absence of accountability,deepens representational crises. Special attention is paid to the notion of digital inequality, which is exacerbated bywartime displacement, limited infrastructure access, and the fragmentation of the political space. The article alsohighlights the issue of trust as a key precondition for effective participation, especially in relation to the petition mechanism, which risks losing value without guaranteed official response.The article concludes that e-democracy can and should play a stabilizing role in times of crisis, but this requiresrobust institutional feedback mechanisms, legal frameworks ensuring responses to public initiatives, and integration of digital participation into post-war recovery processes. Estonia’s experience, where e-tools are embedded in the political cycle, is proposed as a reference model for reforming Ukrainian practices. Thus, e-democracy is viewedas a foundation for flexible, transparent, and adaptive governance capable of sustaining democratic mechanismseven in extreme conditions.