Module: Introducing E-democracy

Transcription

1 Module: Introducing E-democracy Introduction Low voting figures have led to claims that people have lost trust in politicians and have become disenfranchised from politics. While technology alone will not provide solutions to these problems, there are fresh claims that new ICTs and the www could combine with a new political will and human action to strengthen more active political engagement and e-participation from the ground up. This unit will introduce you to the concept of electronic democracy known as e-democracy, pointing out some of the key issues at the heart of its development and explaining why communities are important for its success. The unit will: indicate why e-democracy systems are now more possible than before provide some definitions of e-democracy outline different models of e-democracy furnish with a brief insight into a range of different e-democracy developments. The unit will also provide an opportunity for you to consider how e-democracy systems could operate effectively in your community or within your own area of work. 38

2 What Makes E-democracy More Possible than Before? A range of different factors has combined to provide the conditions for e-democracy to develop and allow more people to participate in political processes. These include: the arrival of new ICTs and the world wide web better public access to new ICTs, offering new ways to extend the reach of democracy to those who have been excluded new technological infrastructures combined with social, cultural political and economic changes in society the availability of a wide variety of information on a scale previously not possible ICT features that could support one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-one, and many-to-many types of interaction development of secure online e-transaction functionalities that could, for example, support e- voting recognition of public disillusionment and a new political will to combine representative and participatory models of democracy, listen to the public s viewpoints and incorporate public input into decision-making processes. Fusion of the above conditions sets the scene for new and innovative e-democracy ideas to be put into practice. 39

3 ACTIVITY WHAT IS E-DEMOCRACY? A range of terms have been used at different times in a variety of experiments and initiatives to reinvigorate democracy using ICT: teledemocracy cyberdemocracy digital democracy virtual democracy e-democracy. The term e-democracy is used in this unit. You can download a useful primer on e-democracy and e-citizenship from the Becta website at this address The Hansard Society is an independent body existing to promote more effective parliamentary democracy. Hansard suggests that new ICTs characterised by their interactive nature produce a range of new possibilities for citizens to link to representatives. Virtual space overcomes the problem of geographic separation and is not time-specific. Thus, Hansard believes these new conditions offer new possibilities for strengthening democracy. The concept of e-democracy is associated with efforts to broaden political participation by enabling citizens to connect with one another and with their representatives via new information and communication technologies (ICTs). (Hansard Society on e-democracy 40

4 National and local governments are beginning to interact with citizens via websites, , and public information kiosks. Following the creation of a UK Cabinet Committee on e-democracy, policy proposals on how to strengthen the democratic process through the use of the internet and other electronic means are being developed. The notion of e-democracy has been linked to stronger forms of democracy, i.e. the use of ICT to enhance public interaction and support better participation and involvement in decision-making processes. ACTIVITY CIVIC BASIS FOR E-DEMOCRACY Some e-democracy experiments have stressed interaction at local level often in civic spaces that are located separately from government and the market. This civic networking focus on e-democracy is to influence what is happening in different areas of public life through new ICTs. Efforts are often made at community level to provide more opportunity to many more people to express their views about issues they consider important. For example, the International Teledemocracy Centre ( has developed a project in conjunction with Highland Youth Voice members to design and manage their site. Content is added to the newsfeed by Youth Voice members, who are enabled to interact in an online policy debating forum. All young people in the area are able to deliberate in online forums, and an e-voting section has been set up for electing new members. Visit the Highland Youth Voice at to see how young people have been encouraged to take an interest in local issues. Write down any information in the space below. 41

5 ACTIVITY GOVERNMENT BASIS FOR E-DEMOCRACY In addition to local involvement, the relationship between e-government and e-democracy is becoming more significant. E-government can be defined broadly as the ways in which new technology supports the business of government and the delivery of services using ICT. Many governments are trying hard to balance e-information services and delivery of more efficient e- public services with better opportunities for citizens to participate using e-democracy systems. A key focus for authority-led e-democracy is to address the problem of fragmented local services and accountability by involving people and listening to feedback. The focus on local government e- democracy is also to address low turn-out at local elections; bureaucracies that are thought too remote from the people; decision-making structures that are too obscure; and councillors who are considered unrepresentative. To facilitate one of its key principles, democratic participation, the Scottish Parliament has organised moderated discussion boards. You should register at the Scottish Parliament Live and, if you want to, take part in one of the discussions In the USA, the Virginia Town Hall project is turning to the internet to get the public in the state of Virginia more involved in the state s rule-making process and to shorten the time it takes to put proposed regulations into law. Not only will people be able to view proposed regulations on the website, but they can also sign up to be notified by when documents are posted, a comment period begins or a relevant meeting will be held. 42

6 E-voting It is becoming more possible to use electronic technologies to make it more convenient for citizens to vote, and even enable some disabled voters to cast their ballot unaided. For example, a fixed line or mobile telephone, digital TV, access to ICTs and the internet could all be used by citizens to vote electronically. Citizens could be involved in internet voting using poll sites kiosks remote voting. At poll sites, people could vote using the internet under the control of election officials. It is also possible to put e-voting kiosks in local communities and places people use frequently, e.g. shopping precincts, workplaces, and community centres. Election officials could still monitor voting procedures, perhaps even using remote cameras to ensure proper procedures are followed. Remote Voting by Electronic Means (RVEM) could be organised from any location where it is possible to access the internet. Many citizens could then vote from home, work and play. It would even be possible for UK citizens to vote from anywhere outside the UK, for example when on holiday. Counting votes could be accomplished quickly and accurately using the sophisticated electronic features of new ICTs and the internet. However, possibilities of online fraud and problems surrounding issues of security and trust are among major issues still to be addressed. Voters may use a PIN number or other form of authentication; however, problems of secure authentication remain problematic. To avoid fraudulent voting, it would be necessary to authenticate the identity of each voter using valid biometric data such as a fingerprint or retinal scan and a verification database. Information on e-voting developments can be found at 43

7 ACTIVITY E-VOTING IN THE UK Visit the sites given below to see how an experiment in e-voting worked in the UK. Write your findings in the space given. On 2 May 2002, The Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions, with support from private sector partners BT and Election.com, held a series of e-voting pilots, using internet voting from home, voting kiosks, and mobile text messaging in nine local authority areas in England: Bolton, Chester, Borough of Crewe and Nantwich, Liverpool, Newham, Sheffield, St Albans, Stratford upon Avon and Swindon. Although e-voting was open to all registered voters in three selected Sheffield City wards, it was hoped in particular that EvoteSheffield.com would help to persuade young voters to vote online or via text messaging. The site also provided information about how people could vote without a traditional ballot box. page0.htm Thirty-six per cent of those who voted in Sheffield on 2 May 2002 did so electronically through the Sheffield e-vote 2002 gateway ( A demo of the e-voting process used in this experiment may be seen at 44

8 ACTIVITY THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY IN E-DEMOCRACY While grassroots civic developments in e-democracy are different from government and local authority-led e-democracy initiatives, they share similar aims and hope to achieve similar goals in moving from passive inactivity to active democratic participation. In both approaches, the focus on developing democratic structures and communities is central; and there is a need also to create a new culture of e-democracy at local community level. The Cabinet Committee set up by the UK Parliament has divided e-democracy into two distinct camps: e-voting and e-participation. Local e-democracy systems may involve e-voting via a home PC, digital TV or mobile phone. Other personal technologies are also becoming popular and will make it easier to vote anywhere a citizen happens to be. Problems still to be overcome include security, electoral integrity, and issues related to trust. E-participation at local level involves the use of electronic tools such as discussion groups and electronic forums on the web. These tools can be designed to widen and deepen the democratic process. Information gathering is easier on the web. It is also possible to present alternative views and balanced expert opinions. Electronic forums present opportunities to deliberate about the issues based on the information available. Groups of citizens can form virtual communities of like-minded people to campaign on specific issues. E-participation between citizens and their representatives can also be enriched by appropriately designed e-democracy systems. Promoting knowledge about democracy in communities is necessary to establish positive cultures of involvement. For example, the Public Broadcasting Service in Virginia supported by 349 public television stations in the USA has produced an online democracy project aimed at raising awareness in young people and helping adults build their knowledge 45

9 Communities Internet in Scotland has also begun to highlight issues relating to local public involvement in democratic systems via pages accessible from 38 community network websites throughout Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire and Inverclyde. See, for example, ACTIVITY DESIGNING A LOCAL E-DEMOCRACY SYSTEM This unit has illustrated a range of e-democracy systems designed to support different intentions; for example, to educate people, create new cultures and enhance the practice of democracy generally; to support different groups of citizens from the bottom up in communicating with political bodies and/ or about public issues; to energise civic participation and community life; to involve citizens in local authority decision making; and to improve interactions and relationships between governing authorities and citizens. You may, as a local activist, be in a position to work in partnership with local people and/or with your local authority or regional government to help design and develop local e-democracy systems suited to a variety of different purposes in your particular community. With reference to information gained from this unit and based on your understanding of the community you work in, please tackle the following: 46

10 List the needs of your area and visualise how e-democracy might be advantageous. What type(s) of e-democracy system(s) could you see working in your area? 47

11 connecting communities: context for communities introducing democracy Identify what actions would be required prior to setting an e-democracy system up in your community; what partnerships might be formed; and how input to the organisation from the community might be harnessed. What kind of training and what citizenship skills would be needed for the community to contribute to and use this system? 48