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Electronic Democracy and Power

  • Conference paper
Electronic Government (EGOV 2004)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 3183))

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Abstract

The paper discusses, mainly on a principal and general level, answers to the question: To what questions about democracy is Information Technology (IT) the answer? Parliamentary-centred democratic procedures, in a newsmedia-saturated society, generate less and less enthusiasm among citizens. There’s no evidence that people are turning anti-democratic, but opinion polls in both western Europe and North America show that in practically all countries, citizens feel gradually more detached from the established political process. Political reality seems to be moving further and further away from the ideals of democracy as described in political science textbooks. Although IT could be designed to support democratic procedures by which citizens could regain the political power they obviously feel they have lost, this is not happening. Electronic Democracy is very little about electronics, and very much about democratic reform – about power.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1.  , Fyrspannsgatan 99, 2tr, 165 64, Hässelby, Sweden

    Anders R. Olsson

Authors
  1. Anders R. Olsson
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Informatics in Business and Government, University of Linz, Altenbergerstr. 69, 4040, Linz, Austria

    Roland Traunmüller

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© 2004 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Olsson, A.R. (2004). Electronic Democracy and Power. In: Traunmüller, R. (eds) Electronic Government. EGOV 2004. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 3183. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-30078-6_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-30078-6_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-22916-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-30078-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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