Partners or Foes?

Exchange of Good Practices in Monitoring of Government Policies and Processes in Enlargement Countries Skopje, Macedonia, 4th of July 2012

New Technologies and Participation: A Cure or a Pretext?

Political informatics: which e-participation for NGOs?

Simon Delakorda, M.Sc.
www.inepa.si / www.inepa.eu

Institute for Electronic Participation

Electronic participation refers to...

ICT-supported participation in processes involved in government and governance. Processes may concern administration, service delivery, decision making and policy making. (Rose et al 2007, 3)

ICTs & political democracy

Models of democracy Elitistcompetitive e-access e -democr acy techniques e-petition e-consultation e-voting e-referendum e-forum e-poll x Legalist x x x x x x
Source: Delakorda, 2003

Pluralist x x

Plebiscitary x x x x

Participatory x x x

x x

Societal conflicts management Innovative approach Good governance

Transparency of participation

Legitimacy

Source: www.evropske-razprave.si

Accountable decisions

Stakeholders inputs facilitation Meaningful results delivery

Argumentative responsiveness Administration of relevant information

Since 2006...

more than 1.000 published contributions 25.000 unique visitors 9 consultation reports from facilitators 17 official feedback from MEPs ePractice Editors Choice recognition 2007 Informal learning NEFIKS recognition 2011

Strengths and weaknesses

strengths
low costs easy to implement

weaknesses
click democracy critical mass political power game impact? privacy / security complexity user-centred design resources facilitation
11

e-petition

easy to use viral dissemination community building deliberation interactivity

e-consultation

users generated content institutionalization

to je test impact (feedback)?

privacy / security

Needs of NGOs in e-participation area

Central and Eastern European Citizen's Network (CEE CN) and Institute for Electronic Participation (INePA) 2012 survey: - partnerships / networking - education / training - funding - technical support - human resources

to je test

12

Present & future developments

NGOs
grass-roots digital democracy user participation user-centered design user-generated content openness collective intelligence collaboration community building

Political parties
pirate politics swarm liquid democracy inner party democracy adhocracy political innovation global dimension

Governance
e-governance citizens sourcing citizens driven participation co-creation open innovation collective opinions / governance continuous engagement life event / identity driven engagement

Democratic risks of digital society

digital inequality internet control* commodification of internet technocratic e-government* fake e-participation*

* Essential for non-governmental organizations to address these issues as e-democracy intermediaries (research, advocacy and watchdogging).

e-Participation challenges for South East Europe

e-Participation development gap unclear state of the art political, social, cultural and legal issues addressing common regional issues based on cross-border cooperation a unique eParticipation potential in relation to the western Europe (regional approach to eDemocracy)

Institute for Electronic Participation INePA NGO

simon.delakorda@inepa.si Povetova ulica 37, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia P: +386 41 365 529 www.inepa.si / www.inepa.eu facebook.com/zavod.inepa twitter.com/Institut_INePA

Institute for ElectroncParticipation