Governance transformations in Latin America: comparative perspectives on digital innovation, educommunication, and democratic legitimacy amid global crises

In recent decades, research on governance and public policy has revealed a growing disconnect between state institutions and citizen demands, intensified by economic, health, environmental, and security crises. Contemporary scholarship underscores the need to rethink governance models through interdisciplinary approaches that integrate democracy, human rights, technology, sustainability, and educommunication as a key mediating framework between public institutions, digital technologies, and citizenship.In Latin America, systemic corruption, structural violence, inequality, and institutional fragility have challenged the capacity of states to ensure social cohesion and public trust. Within this context, debates on open government, transparency, citizen participation, and the ethical use of digital technologies in public administration have gained renewed relevance. At the same time, the communicative and pedagogical dimensions of governance—how public policies are explained, mediated, learned, contested, and co-constructed with citizens—have become central to democratic legitimacy, particularly in digitally mediated public spheres.This Research Topic adopts an educommunication perspective to critically examine how communication practices, media ecosystems, and educational processes shape citizen engagement, institutional accountability, and trust in governance systems. From this standpoint, governance is understood not only as an institutional or regulatory arrangement, but also as a process of public meaning-making and civic learning, where media, digital platforms, and public communication policies play a decisive role.The main goal of this Research Topic is to critically and interdisciplinarily analyze contemporary challenges faced by public policies and governance systems in contexts of global crises, with particular attention to democratic legitimacy, transparency, citizen participation, and the role of educommunication in fostering informed, critical, and participatory citizenship. The collection seeks to explore how digital transformations, socio-environmental crises, migration, structural violence, disinformation, and the expansion of artificial intelligence are reshaping public decision-making, public communication, and accountability mechanisms.Additionally, this Research Topic aims to generate comparative knowledge that highlights the gaps between normative frameworks, institutional practices, communicative strategies, and societal demands, with a geographic emphasis on Latin America while remaining open to global perspectives. By incorporating educommunication, the collection aspires to advance more inclusive, ethical, and sustainable governance models, capable of strengthening democratic cultures through media literacy, public dialogue, and participatory communication.Submissions may draw on empirical research, theoretical analyses, critical reviews, or comparative case studies across regional and global contexts. We particularly welcome contributions addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:• Citizen participation, transparency, and communicative governance• Open government, public data accessibility, and civic learning• Public communication, disinformation, media literacy, and democratic accountability• Educommunication, digital citizenship, and media and information literacy (MIL)• Artificial intelligence, algorithmic governance, and communicative ethics in public decision-making• Migration, human rights, and inclusive communication strategies in public policy• Socio-environmental justice, climate governance, and community communication• Corruption, democratic legitimacy, institutional trust, and public narratives• Feminism, intersectionality, care policies, and participatory communication in governance• Citizen security, organized crime, structural violence, and media representationsAccepted manuscript types include original research articles, systematic reviews, case studies, and interdisciplinary approaches.This Research Topic builds on the CIICIS 2026 (Congreso Internacional Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Sociales), which will take place in Quito, Ecuador, on 11-13 November 2026. Topic editors: Angel Torres-Toukoumidis, Narcisa Medranda - Morales, Diego Carrión, Diana Rivera-Rogel, Isabel Ramos Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/76915/governance-transformations-in-latin-america-comparative-perspectives-on-digital-innovation-educommunication-and-democratic-legitimacy-amid-global-crises