BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS AND CITIZENS: DO WEB SITES MATTER FOR CREATING GOVERNANCE? SOME OBSERVATIONS ON TURKISH LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

Abstract

Traditional information and communication technologies (ICTs) were not so successful to bridge the gap between government and citizens even if we were in a “video democracy ” era. But new ICTs begin to serve for bridging the gap between governments and citizens. That is primarily the Internet. Even if we are at an early stage of adopting and shaping ICTs for social and political use, new guiding visions are coming forth as “edemocracy” and “e-government”. All these visions are somewhat a product of the internet. There is a strong link between the quality of democracy and information. The quality of the democratic process is determined by the information infrastructures that takes place in. The successful functioning of any democratic government is dependent upon efficient, multi directional flows of information. There are four categories of direction of information and communication flow; downward, upward, lateral (inward or outward), and interactive. Both citizens and governments need information for many reasons. Citizens need information about their central or local representatives so that they can be evaluated on the basis of their record and so that representative institutions can be transparent in their activities. Representatives within elected assemblies or parliaments need information about the executives ’ policies so that they can pass effective legislation, scrutinize executive functions and hold governments to account if necessary. They also need information from individual citizens an