eParticipation in the institutional domain: a review of research: analytical report on eParticipation research from an administration and political perspective in six European countries

This deliverable of DEMO-net Project provides an analysis of existing research about eParticipation in the institutional domain. It includes a review of the empirical research about eParticipation in six European countries (Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, and Sweden) and in the international research. This report also provides a comparative picture of national and international research, and outlines overall research findings and research gaps

e-Participation in Austria: Trends and Public Policies

The paper is a first step to assess the status of e-participation within the political system in Austria. It takes a top-down perspective focusing on the policy framework related to citizens´ rights in the digital environment, the role of public participation and public policies on e-participation in Austria. The analysis of the development of e-participation in Austria as well as of social and political trends regarding civic participation in general and its electronic embedding, show a remarkable recent increase of e-participation projects and related initiatives. The paper identifies main institutional actors actively dealing with or promoting e-participation and reviews government initiatives as well as relevant policy documents specifically addressing and relating to e-participation or e-democracy. Finally, it takes a look at the state of the evaluation of e-participation. A major conclusion is that e-participation has become a subject of public policies in Austria; however, the recent upswing of supportive initiatives for public participation and e-participation goes together with ambivalent attitudes among politicians and administration towards e-participation.e-participation, e-democracy, citizens´ rights, institutional actors, public policies, government initiatives, evaluation

An institutional perspective on information and communication technologies in governance

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are becoming increasing relevant in policy making and governance activities. However, the broad effects of digital governance have not been adequately conceptualised; conflicting assumptions vary from rather optimistic accounts of empowered citizens to even completely dismissing the potential of engagement through technical means. This research attempts to reposition the impact of ICTs on policy making and political communities. Drawing from institutional studies, an integrated perspective is synthesised to guide case investigations in three main directions: (1) the way influences from the institutional environment are understood and balanced locally, (2) the co-evolution of institutional and technological configurations and (3) the dynamic response of institutional actors to the challenge of online engagement. The empirical part focuses on two different contexts (local government authorities and a trade union federation) that cover the holistic objective of this study. The findings inform on the extent to which ICTs are actually merging with existing governance structures. Both studies show that policy making is fundamentally different from other activities at the general intersection of Internet and politics. Citizens form online communities to organise ad hoc around single issue movements. However, this does not necessarily translate into sustainable and meaningful participation in formal politics. Hence, adapting institutional structures emerges as a complicated challenge beyond fitting technical means into existing engagement activities. On this basis, the thesis questions the extent to which policy making mechanisms are able to enact engagement from the grassroots, as for example encouraged by the social media collaboration philosophy. Implications for practice show how the alignment between new tools and the existing norms has the potential to identify paths of least resistance, and then exploit them to accomplish positives changes whose beneficial effects should not be taken for granted.Department of Information Systems and Computing, Brunel Universit

The Policy Cycle: a framework for knowledge management of practitioners' expertise and role in participatory processes

There is extensive literature on stakeholder theory and knowledge management in the private sector, but less on the public sector, particularly in the context of public participation projects. Public participation initiatives are often designed using a case-by-case approach to identify relevant stakeholder groups, the engagement methods, and the tools to be used. In addition, public sector organizations (PSOs) often rely on participation experts and practitioners' professional knowledge to design successful participation projects. Given that public participation is to enable PSOs access to participants' knowledge, knowledge management is a central issue in public participation projects. In this multi-method, qualitative study we focus on the management of experts' and practitioners' knowledge, and we aim to show how their knowledge contributes to participatory processes and projects, and how the policy cycle can be used as a knowledge management framework to collect and structure their knowledge. We used sequential analysis to study the experiences of 84 practitioners from the public sector collected during a series of workshops. Our findings show the need to locate participation initiatives in the context of the government policy cycle, that the policy cycle can be used for knowledge management in public participation projects and to recognize that practitioners represent a key stakeholder group in public participation

An institutional perspective on information and communication technologies in governance

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are becoming increasing relevant in policy making and governance activities. However, the broad effects of digital governance have not been adequately conceptualised; conflicting assumptions vary from rather optimistic accounts of empowered citizens to even completely dismissing the potential of engagement through technical means. This research attempts to reposition the impact of ICTs on policy making and political communities. Drawing from institutional studies, an integrated perspective is synthesised to guide case investigations in three main directions: (1) the way influences from the institutional environment are understood and balanced locally, (2) the co-evolution of institutional and technological configurations and (3) the dynamic response of institutional actors to the challenge of online engagement. The empirical part focuses on two different contexts (local government authorities and a trade union federation) that cover the holistic objective of this study. The findings inform on the extent to which ICTs are actually merging with existing governance structures. Both studies show that policy making is fundamentally different from other activities at the general intersection of Internet and politics. Citizens form online communities to organise ad hoc around single issue movements. However, this does not necessarily translate into sustainable and meaningful participation in formal politics. Hence, adapting institutional structures emerges as a complicated challenge beyond fitting technical means into existing engagement activities. On this basis, the thesis questions the extent to which policy making mechanisms are able to enact engagement from the grassroots, as for example encouraged by the social media collaboration philosophy. Implications for practice show how the alignment between new tools and the existing norms has the potential to identify paths of least resistance, and then exploit them to accomplish positives changes whose beneficial effects should not be taken for granted.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Challenges and Prospects of e‐Elections in Nigeria

E‐governance is a momentous currency in contemporary society, and it manifests in virtually all areas of life, which include, among others, banking, insurance, trade and commerce, and democracy. The deployment of Information Communication Technology (ICT) and Information Technology (IT) devices for democratic governance has been successful in technologically advanced countries, and has inspired countries from the developing South, such as Nigeria to contemplate or commence e‐elections for democratic sustainability. The elections regulatory body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had contemplated exploring e‐elections in the country but later dropped the idea on grounds of unpreparedness. Electoral process or election however, has its several components: voter registration, registration review/update, electioneering campaigns, actual voting, and release of election results. These naturally come with their challenges and have informed a school of thought that based on Nigeria’s economic instability, corruption, resources mismanagement, and technologically backward climate, including unstable power supply, e‐elections would be far‐fetched. The other school of thought however, exhibits hope and optimism. This paper, with data scooped through questionnaire administration and from literature, examines the challenges and prospects as well as the peculiarity of Nigerian electoralsystem and the e‐election system, which will be marooned in the general Nigerian politicandl economic climate. Findings show that the prospects are and will always be good for the country, but that the stakes are far too high at a moment of huge infrastructural laybacks of the country. Moreover, not too many people have confidence in the electoral regime, let alone going ahead with such a venture as e‐elections. It therefore recommends, among other things, that the nation should develop the sub‐sectors of the economy that can sustain e‐elections before INEC goes ahead with the capital‐intensive enterprise for democratic sustainability in Nigeria

The Role of Information and Communication Technology on Transparency, Trust and Good Governance in Nigeria

Studies on transparency and trust in public sector management have generated exciting moments amongst scholars and practitioners alike in the area of good governance for development of societies. Furthermore, it has been argued by some scholars that government agencies are more likely to achieve their goals of enhanced performance for the improvement in the living standard of the people, particularly in the provision of adequate social amenities such as clean water, electricity supply, good roads, well equipped hospitals and adequate security protection of lives and properties, where transparency on the part of public officials in the use of public resources, and trust about government agencies on the part of the people are the norms in such a society. Previous studies have hinged on transparency for enhanced performance of government and its agencies on the integrity and perception of the individual employees in carrying out their assignments without taking into consideration the lack of capacity to perform, and the value judgment of such individuals. This present study focuses on the role of information and communication technology (ICT) in the management of government and its activities for enhanced development in the society. The work contributes to our understanding of the relationship between ICT, transparency, trust and good governance as a catalyst for development in Nigeria. With the use of structural equation model, the study empirically analyzed 261 copies of the questionnaire that were administered to respondents in the public and the private sectors of the nation’s economy, about their perception on the relationship between the variables under consideration. The findings suggest the importance of ICT as a facilitator of transparency in the management of public resources, including, revenue collection and disbursement of public funds by government officials, as a basis for societal development, than the mere reliance on individual employees’ integrity and perception in the management of public resources in Nigeria’s quest for developmen

E-democracy Implementation: The Imperative of Agenda Setting

Decline in the level of citizens’ participation due to disconnect between citizens and their representatives has been identified as one of the prominent challenges facing most democratic societies in the world today. E-democracy has been identified to have the potentials to reduce the contemporary estrangement between the democratic actors by creating new forms of engagement, deliberation, and collaboration in polity to make the democratic processes more inclusive and transparent. However, edemocracy initiatives in many countries have had mixed success as most e-democracy implementations have been unable to justify the essence of huge investments made into it. This research paper reviews existing edemocracy development processes and agenda of nations among the top twenty countries in e-participation implementation as rated in the UN Global E-Government Evaluation, 2010. The sample composed of secondary data sourced from information system centric academic journals, book chapters, conference proceedings, database of international development organisations (OECD, UN, EU) on e-democracy implementation reports and database of research institutions and centres that focus on e-government and e-democracy implementation. Findings revealed that most countries do not have well established framework and agenda setting for e-democracy implementation, but only based their e-democracy implementation on one of the objectives of their e-government implementation. As a result, policy content is largely missing in most edemocracy strategies at both conceptual and implementation stage. This paper therefore, presents a guideline for e-democracy agenda setting and discusses issues germane to establishing e-democracy agenda. It submits that for a successful e-democracy implementation, the agenda-setting phase should capture the legal and political processes of the country. In addition, e-democracy strategic vision, strategic aim and objectives, strategic policy, mode of implementation and overseeing body should be well articulated in the agenda setting phase of e-democracy implementation plan. The discussion will benefit both researchers, government and practitioners on successful e-democracy implementation as basis for societal development