Definition
CrowdLaw is the practice of using technology to engage the public in lawmaking, including the crafting of regulations, policies, and legislation. Parliaments, city councils, and public institutions are increasing their use of crowdlaw practices to obtain diverse sources of information, insight, and expertise at each stage of the lawmaking cycle to improve the quality as well as the legitimacy of the resulting laws and policies.
Introduction
CrowdLaw processes use a variety of different methods and tools, each generally designed for a specific stage of policymaking, including problem identification, solution identification, drafting and evaluation. We look at examples at each stage.
vTaiwan: Identifying Problems Collaboratively and Consensually
The arc of the lawmaking process begins with defining which problems to tackle. Getting diverse input both from those with lived experience and from those with credentialed expertise helps lawmakers learn about how the public...
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References
Hsiao, Y. T., Lin, S.-Y., Tang, A., Narayanan, D., & Sarahe, C. (2018). vTaiwan: An empirical study of open consultation process in Taiwan. SocArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/xyhft.
Noveck, B. S., Dinesh, A., Muñozcano, B. R., Gambrell, D., Gimeno, E., Joerger, G., Konopacki, M., Ryan, M., Kornberg, M., Harvey, R., DeJohn, S., & Alsina, V. (2020). CrowdLaw for Congress: Strategies for 21st century lawmaking. The Governance Lab. https://congress.crowd.law/files/crowdlaw_playbook_Oct2020.pdf
Tang, A. (2019, October 15). A strong democracy is a digital democracy. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/15/opinion/taiwan-digital-democracy.html
The Governance Lab. (2020a, February). Evidence Checks UK: Evidence-based policymaking in the UK. Congress.crowd.law. https://congress.crowd.law/case-evidence-checks-uk.html
The Governance Lab. (2020b, February). Governador Pergunta: Municipal open innovation. Congress.crowd.law. https://congress.crowd.law/case-governador-pergunta.html
The Governance Lab. (2020c, February). vTaiwan: Using digital technology to write digital laws. Congress.crowd.law. https://congress.crowd.law/case-vtaiwan.html
Further Reading
Alsina, V., & MartÃ, J. L. (2018). The birth of the CrowdLaw movement: Tech-based citizen participation, legitimacy and the quality of lawmaking. Analyse & Kritik, 40(2), 337–358. https://doi.org/10.1515/auk-2018-0019.
Noveck, B. S. (2018). Crowdlaw: Collective intelligence and lawmaking. Analyse & Kritik, 40(2), 359–380. https://doi.org/10.1515/auk-2018-0020.
Noveck, B. S., Dinesh, A., Muñozcano, B. R., Gambrell, D., Gimeno, E., Joerger, G., Konopacki, M., Ryan, M., Kornberg, M., Harvey, R., DeJohn, S., & Alsina, V. (2020). CrowdLaw for Congress: Strategies for 21st century lawmaking. The Governance Lab. https://congress.crowd.law/files/crowdlaw_playbook_Oct2020.pdf
POPVOX. (2020, February 4). House Natural Resources Committee brings stakeholders and individuals into the legislative process using POPVOX tools. https://www.dropbox.com/s/o7k088bla38rq27/EJ%20Interim%20case%20study%202.pdf?dl=0
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Noveck, B.S. (2021). CrowdLaw. In: Harris, P., Bitonti, A., Fleisher, C.S., Skorkjær Binderkrantz, A. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Interest Groups, Lobbying and Public Affairs . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13895-0_77-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13895-0_77-1
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