Electronic Government pp 256-263 | Cite as
Citizen Participation in Public Affairs
Abstract
Reflecting on the European Commissions stated aim to broaden democracy this paper examines the nature of e-participation and considers concepts of democracy and issues surrounding citizen participation in pubic affairs. The paper describes how citizens are engaging with government and with each other about policy related issues that concern them, using technology specially designed for the purpose. The paper describes a case study of electronic participation developed for the Environment Group of the Scottish Executive in Summer 2001. Using the empirical data from this study the paper explores best practice guidelines for governments who wish to engage citizens in policymaking. The difficult task of addressing the requirements of all stakeholders, i.e. government, civil society organizations (CSOs) and citizens in designing the technology is discussed. The use and moderation of the electronic tools over the engagement period is assessed. Finally, the paper considers how the use of electronic tools can be monitored and their impact on citizen participation and the decision-making of government be assessed.
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
- 1.Barber, Benjamin. (1984). Strong democracy: Participatory politics for a new age. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
- 2.Held, Anthony. (1996). Models of democracy. Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers.Google Scholar
- 3.Fishkin, James S. (1995) The voice of the People. Public Opinion and Democracy. Yale University PressGoogle Scholar
- 4.Van Dijk, Jan ‘Models of Democracy and Concepts of Communication’. In Hacker, K.L and Jan van Dijk., (2000). (eds) Digital Democracy issues of theory and practice. Sage PublicationsGoogle Scholar
- 5.Coleman, Stephen. and Gøtze, John (2001) (2001). Bowling Together: Online public engagement in policy deliberation. Hansard Society and BT.Google Scholar
- 6.Becker, T. & Slaton, C. (2000). The Future of Teledemocracy. Westport, Conn. 2000. LCGoogle Scholar
- 7.Rheingold, H. (1993) The Virtual Community. Reading M.A. Addison and Wesley. Also see http://www.well.com/user/hlr/vcbook/vcbookintro.html (consulted February, 2002)
- 8.Tsagarousianou, Rosa. Tambini, Damian. & Bryan Cathy. (1998). (eds). Cyberdemocracy: Technology, cities and civic networks. London & New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
- 9.OECD (2001). Citizens as Partners: Information, consultation and public participation in policy-making: OECD.Google Scholar
- 10.Macintosh, A., Davenport, E., Malina, A.; and Whyte A.; Technology to Support Participatory Democracy; in Electronic Government: Design, Applications, And Management; edited by Åke Grönlund, Umeå University, Sweden; published by Idea Group Publishing January 2002; pp223–245.Google Scholar
- 11.Whyte A. and Macintosh A. Transparency and Teledemocracy: Issues from an ‘EConsultation.’ In Journal of Information Science. July 2001.Google Scholar
- 12.Wilhelm, A.G. (1999) Virtual Sounding Boards: how deliberative is online political discussion? In Hague, B.N. and Loader, B. (Eds) (1999) Digital Democracy: Discourse and Decision Making in the Information Age. RoutledgeGoogle Scholar
- 13.Whyte, A. and Macintosh, A. ‘Analysis and Evaluation of e-consultations’; to appear in the e-Service Journal; Indiana University Press, 2002.Google Scholar