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A paper by Michael Macpherson, Berlin FRG, 1997.Citizen participation in politics and the new systems of communication
PAPER AVAILABLE IN 2 PARTS
SECTION 1 (62K) contains Parts 1 to 3
SECTION 2 (42K) contains Parts 4, 5, 6, glossary, references.
PAPER AVAILABLE IN 6 PARTS
Section A (20K) contains Part 1
Section B (14K) contains Part 2
Section C (30K) contains Part 3
Section D (9K) contains Parts 4.1 to 4.3
Section E(17K) contains Parts 4.4 to 4.7
Section F (18K) contains Part 5, Part 6, glossary, references.
FRAMEWORK
1 Introduction
1.1 pre-amble
1.2 personal interest - a remark about assumptions
1.3 a methodological note
1.4 citizen participation and ICT in the context of debate about democratic systems
1.4.1 debate about the form of delegation (representation), the constitution of state, parliament and government and the electoral system.
1.4.2 intra-governmental and parliamentary reform, and relations between legislative and executive, "informatisation" of government and administration and its implications for the citizen.
1.4.3 elements of direct democracy
1.5 pre-conceptions about collective decision making in democracies
2 the communication and information offers of ICT: Potential aids to citizen participation.
(This is a layperson's guide to the citizen participation-potential of ICT, written by an ICT layperson.)
2.1 electronic mail
2. 2 newsgroup discussions
2.3 list-servers, bulletin boards and similar systems
2.4 WWW and similar "publication", interaction with other ICT systems
2.5 IRC (chatting), conferencing and related systems, interviews (e.g. citizens interview politician or official)
2.6 Mass meetings, electronic town halls, opinion gathering.
3 Some projects and proposals which may improve citizen participation
3.1 The California Online Voter Guide
3.2 British on-line democracy project
3.3 Choosing Our Future (COF)
3.4 A political party closely guided by citizens' opinions? (Reform Party of Canada)
3.5 Legislator/parliamentarian consults all constitutents (Reform Party of Canada)
3.6 Decision-Maker/Teledemocracy: an ambitious model from The Netherlands
3.7 The Citizens Jury Process, Jefferson Centre Minneapolis.
3.8 Grass-roots and citizens' lobby groups.
3.9. Electronic community neworks, digital cities.
TABLE: Functions of projects to improve citizen participation in democratic systems.
TABLE: Information and links provided, or potentially provided, by cyber-participation projects
4. participation and citizen power
TABLE: Forms of societal decision making
4.1 antidote to discontent, psychic factors, problem solving
4.2 some objections and barriers to improved citizen participation and direct democracy.
4.3 can citizens take over more responsibility?
TABLE: criteria for projects which claim to improve citizens' participation in public decision-making.
4.4 town meetings, old and new
4.5 role of governments, industry, commerce and providers of information technology: facing the demands of citizens
4.6 citizens organise in (and out of) cyberspace? Some examples in real-life.
4.7 discussion and critique of projects and programmes in and out of cyberspace.
5 remarks
5.1 gender and access issues
5.2 learning
5.3 motivation, interest, skills, time
5.4 freedom of information - the struggle
5.5 self-organisation for rights to participate and direct democracy
6. Conclusions
6.1 Concluding remarks
6.2 Concluding points
Glossary
References
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ABSTRACT
This paper is based on the assumption that improvement in the quality of political decision-making in the western-style democracies is both necessary and possible. Method of study involved taking part in and contributing to Internet discussions about democracy and political participation, and searching the Internet, especially WWW, for pro-democracy initiatives. The question of increased citizen participation in collective decision-making is placed in the context of older debates concerning (a) parliamentary and electoral reform and (b) direct versus delegatory ("representative") democratic systems. Ways in which (some forms of) ICT may contribute to improving citizen to citizen, social and political communication are (incompletely) presented. Projects, using ICT, which attempt to improve democracy in several different ways, are here self-described or sketched by the author. Some discussion is offered on the role of citizens, versus the role of elites and governments, to diffuse political power and in applications of ICT thereto. Observations on self-organisation for the right to direct democracy, on learning, motivation, interest, skills, time, gender issues, access to ICT and the struggle for freedom of information, are briefly presented. Greater participation of citizens in exisiting political systems is possible both by strengthening their representation by delegates (e.g. parliamentarians) and by increasing direct democracy. Both of these latter processes may be aided by ICT, which can also help to improve the quality of participation, e.g. by facilitating political information and deliberation of public issues. "Real" examples in which ICT has helped to increase participation of citizens officially in political decision-making are to date very rare. Citizens have used ICT to protest against injustice in distant lands, and to widely and rapidly spread information to gain support for political ideas.
contact: Dr. Michael Macpherson via e-mail, mjm@berlin.snafu.de
URL of this document <http://www.snafu.de/~mjm/CP/cp.html>