Between Civic AI and the Agentic State: The Pathways of Post-Digital Democratic Governance

This article examines the democratic implications of artificial intelligence (AI) by situating the post-digital condition between two ideal-typical configurations: civic AI, which deploys AI at the visible institution–citizen interface to support participation and public reasoning, and the agentic state, which embeds predictive and decision-making capacities within the administrative core of governance. Through this analytical distinction, the article argues that AI may contribute to democratic renewal only insofar as judgment and responsibility remain human and institutionally attributable. Civic AI experimentation faces heightened normative scrutiny but remains structurally fragile; algorithmic delegation diffuses more rapidly under conditions that compress public justification. Drawing on EU and OECD policy contexts and on participatory futuring as both methodology and democratic practice, the article proposes a framework for evaluating where AI-mediated participation can re-anchor in accountable institutions and where it risks becoming legitimating surface for substantively delegated authority.