EDEM: digital tools for e-democracy
Technology options and systems to strengthen participatory and direct democracy
ICT tools and social media significantly open up new ways for citizens to get involved in policy- and decision-making processes. But how can digital tools strengthen the connections between European citizens and the EU decision-making processes? Can they really contribute to reducing the EU democratic deficit and to allowing for more direct democracy?
Digital tools have already increasingly been used for citizen involvement in policy- and decision-making for many years. The spectrum is wide: it reaches from provision of political information via web portals, voter guides and campaign sites to online forums, electronic petitions, consultations and voting tools.
Which lessons can be drawn from experiences of the use of digital tools for EU decision-making procedures? It is the task of a European research collaboration to investigate this.
Activities:
- Systematic review of current literature on e-democracy, the EU governance system and the European public sphere
- Analysis and evaluation of 24 currently existing digital tools
- Analysis of the suitability of the most promising digital tools for implementation at EU level
- Evaluation framework for the assessment of experiences with existing digital tools, informed by the literature review
- Based on these steps, the project will provide recommendations with regard to the use of digital tools at EU level.
This project is carried out by ITA on behalf of Science and Technology Options Assessment at the European Parliament (STOA), in collaboration with the Rathenau Institute (coordinator), the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (ITAS-KIT), the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI), and the Danish Board of Technology Foundation (DBT).
Publications
Publications
- . (2018). Direkte Demokratie. Ita-Newsfeed. Retrieved from https://www.oeaw.ac.at/ita/projekte/news/direkte-demokratie/
- . (2018). Digital tools for e-democracy. ITA dossier no. 31en (February 2018; Authors: Gloria Rose, Georg Aichholzer). Wien. doi:10.1553/ita-doss-031enDOIDownloadRISENWBIB Abstract
-> Digital tools make it possible for citizens to participate more easily in policy- and decision-making processes.
-> Numerous local, national and European experiences with the use of digital tools can help improve decision-making processes.
-> One of the most important factors for successful e-participation is a close and clear link to a concrete formal political process.
-> The numerous international experiences with e-participation processes are also highly relevant for Austria. - . (2018). Digitale Instrumente der e-Demokratie. ITA-Dossier Nr. 31 (Februar 2018; AutorInnen: Gloria Rose, Georg Aichholzer). Wien. doi:10.1553/ita-doss-031DOIDownloadRISENWBIB Abstract
-> Digitale Instrumente erlauben es BürgerInnen, einfacher an Politik- und Entscheidungsprozessen teilzunehmen.
-> Zahlreiche lokale, nationale und europäische Erfahrungen mit dem Einsatz digitaler Instrumente helfen, Entscheidungsprozesse zu verbessern.
-> Einer der wichtigsten Faktoren für eine erfolgreiche e-Partizipation ist eine enge und klare Verbindung zu einem konkreten formalen politischen Prozess.
-> Die zahlreichen internationalen Erfahrungen mit e-Partizipationsprozessen sind auch für Österreich hoch relevant. - . (2018). Prospects of e-democracy in Europe. Part III: Policy options. doi:/10.1553/ITA-pb-
- . (2018). Prospects for e-democracy in Europe. Part II: Case studies. doi:/10.1553/ITA-pb-
- . (2018). Prospects for e-democracy in Europe. Part I: Literature review. doi:/10.1553/ITA-pb-
- . (2018). Prospects for e-democracy in Europe. Study summary. doi:/10.1553/ITA-pb-
