eParticipationeDemocracy

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eParticipation/eDemocracy in different
types/stages of democratic societies
Remarks on research and practice in EU Regions
(for CAHDE meeting, October 8, 2007,
Strassbourg)
PhDr. Irina Záliová, EPMA Director, www.epma.cz
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Background information

• EPMA (European Projects Management Agency,
  co-founded by the Vysocina Region, CZ) linking
  research and practice in EU eDemocracy projects.
  Partner for 6FP, 7FP - IST, Leonardo II, eContent
  projects (eGovernment, eParticipation, eBusiness,
  PSI re-use, Digital Literacy, Safer Internet
  national node)
• Chairing of eGovernmennt Work Group of eris_at_ -
  European Regional Information Society
  Association, established with the ECs support,
  under Belgian Law in 1998, 28 founding member
  regions/ now 37 member regions, including
  Vysocina?
• Policy Recommendations for EC, regional Guide to
  Good Practices in eGovernment -just published.
• Evaluation of eGovernment eParticipation
  projects, European eGovernment Award, Ministerial
  eGovernment conference in Lisboa (September 2007)
• Annual Eastern European eGovernment Days the 6th
  in April 23-25, 2008, Prague (190 experts from
  academia and government business), www.epma.cz

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eParticipation DEMO-net project

• Partner in the DEMO-net NoE www.demo-net.org, to
  involve researchers from universities and public
  administrations into defining the Value framework
  for eParticipation at least for regional level,
• Social, political , economic participation,
  enabled by ICT (political-strategic issues,
  organisational -covering also legal aspects),
  public value generation issues, social and
  socio-economical, socio-technological and pure
  technological issues)
• II. phase of Demo-net from research roadmap to
  Community of Practice (ePCP)
• Specific Interest Groups (industry, elected
  representatives, government executives, third
  parties)

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Significant factors for evaluation

• 1. Maturity of civil society in general
• specifics and forms of democracy historical
  context,
• national political environment, parties and their
  programmes,
• real engagement of citizens in the political
  life,
• responsiveness of politicians/ elimination of
  political elitism
• control mechanisms of civil society role of
  communities local and thematic, role of NGOs,
  etc.
• transparency and openness of political
  representation,
• political, economic and social trust

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2. Communication between governments and
citizens (context of social interactions)

• Traditional forms of communication for particular
  culture/nation
• Political Semantics and Semiotics (the sensitive
  use of proper signs, messages and even words
  e.g. aversion for the word engagement in NMS)
• Strategies and tools for interaction at national,
  regional and local levels of governance (combined
  model of state national governance and
  self-governance)
• Pre-conditions for fully interactive
  communication (dialog of distinct stakeholders,
  triple helix models, etc)
• ICT for new social interactions (technological
  foresights, Web 2.0, social networking tools)

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3. Stage or level of information society

• main socio-economic indicators national
  technological potential,
• ICT literacy of citizens, politicians and PA
  staff,
• internet penetration, PC and mobile equipment
  and other indicators of information society)
• technological trust (different from political,
  social, economic trust)

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4. The impact of eGovernment implementation

• eGovernment efficiency is visible (indicators as
  reduction of cost per unit, increase of
  productivity, sharing processes and data re-use,
  people change - behaviour, skills, leadership,
  awareness, etc.)
• eGovernment effectiveness is present (indicators
  as social dialog, growth of public value
  alongside with inclusiveness of public services,
  simplification of procedures/reduction of
  administrative burdens, accountability, growth of
  public value, multi/channel approach,
  integration, etc.)
• Strengthening of Democratic attributes (Trust,
  Openness, Transparency and Accountability and of
  cause Participation) by ICT means.

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ICT reinforced citizens engagement and
democracy (eParticipation)
Who needs eParticipation?
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eParticipation in the Czech Republic

• 1. Absence of the political order to introduce
  mature eParticipation tools and technologies at
  any level of governance. The interaction is
  mostly presented as one-way communication.
• Act on Freedom of Information already in 2005
  (Act No.106/Sb) as the precondition for better
  governance,
• 2. The overview of interactivity of web pages of
  Czech PA at different levels - the majority of
  municipal and regional PA is only fulfilling
  their information duty according to the Act on
  Freedom of Information (Trnka, D.Spacek)
• 3. Slow strengthening of interaction side of
  communication (Golden Crest 2005-2007). Official
  documents are published on the internet only
  after their creation and adoption by relevant
  public authority.

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eParticipation in the Czech Republic

• 4. Czech citizens remain passive, have no
  interest to communicate with their PA. (the
  society in transition, the very process of
  transformation from quiet socialistic period
  into demanding phase of competition in the
  capitalist society). Is it related to issue of
  Trust?
• 5. Significance of Local Agendas for
  (e)Participation (e.g. , environmental, US radar
  in Brdy arised high local engagement)
• 6. The danger to implement too sophisticated ICT
  platforms for eParticipation before all
  pre-conditions are present, (potential lost of
  Trust of citizens - Greek example of Christoforos
  Korakas, at eParticipation Symposium in Budapest
  2006), until citizens engagement is not taken
  into account in decision making process.

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eParticipation in the Czech Republic

• 7. The danger of political elitism, under
  existing forms of Representative Democracy in new
  democracies. Politicians are not willing or not
  able to take into account the view of citizens
  and are not successful in social communications
  (Czech conflict in communications around the
  issue of American radar in Brdy as example of a
  shortfall between central government and local
  PA, supported by citizens).
• The need for Transparency and new social
  interactions (eParticipation), identified by
  DEMO-net stakeholders workshop as political
  challenge for Europe, could be especially urgent
  for new member states, including Czech Republic.

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6FP, IST - Preparatory Action in eParticipation

• seeking for mechanisms to influence the process
  of decions-making
• October 1 5, evaluation of the European
  Commission 2nd Call for proposals in
  eParticipation with impact on legislation and
  decision-making process
• 39 proposals 43 were citizens driven
  initiatives, 44 were decision-makrers driven

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Guide to Regional Good Practice in eGovernment

• eGovernment WG of IANIS (workshops, seminars,
  on-line Forum, exchange of regional Case studies,
  submitting Policy Recommendations (DG INFSO, eGov
  unit)
• Co-authors Irina Zalisova, Jeremy Millard,
  annex by Daniel van Lerberghe, published by
  eris_at_, Septemer 2007, financed by DG Regio, EC/,
  http//www.ianis.net

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Some remarks

• to examine different cultural realms in Europe,
  rather than to look at each Member State
  individually. These range from the Scandinavian
  participatory and the Anglo-Irish market-driven
  models of Northern Europe, through to the more
  static, public sector driven responses of Central
  Europe, to Southern Europes stronger reliance on
  family, community and city-region driven
  approaches, and to the formerly heavily
  bureaucratic but now transition societies of
  Eastern Europe.
• (Viz the typology by Jeremy Millard. DTI)

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Specific position of regions

• regions are large enough to overcome the
  fragmentation of the local level,
• regions are small enough to manage eGovernment
  Transformation at European scale,
• regions need to support expertice for governance
  of all Interoperability (IOP) aspects

political
economic
managerial
legal
techno-logical
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Regional Experiences

• Development of ICT is going faster, than
  organizational changes. Need for new kind of
  social interactions for capacity building,
  enabling organizational change in regions.
• Multidisciplinary (political, social and
  cultural) analyses of the new Democracies
  eGovernance. Stimulation, models and examples of
  how to develope ICT supported organizational
  change (Change of Social Interactions)
• Knowledge and measurement of economics of eGOV
  projects, for creating balance between ROI
  (Return of Investments) and Public Value of eGOV
  projects
• Exchange of Good Practices is very helpfull
  (Networks as eris_at_, IANIS, new EU portal
  www.epractice.eu

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eGovernment Transformation/ Resistance to Change

• Facing the need for organizational change,
  regional European PA behave different, depending
  on the cultural and economic background, level of
  ICT adoption, on the maturity of the democratic
  system.
• Human aspect of the organizational change seems
  to be the most critical point in all EU regions

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Regions in new MS

• regions from NMS except Estonia - are providing
  significantly less number of eServices, and not
  100 electronic (strongly combined with the
  paper phase)
• regions from NMS still have a complicated
  transition period with a lot of difficulties with
  not fully developed democratic mechanisms, where
  even a small mistake in re-organization of public
  administration structure and processes could
  block the transformation process for a
  significant period.

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Regional Experiences Recommendations

• Regions are large enough to overcome the
  fragmentation of the local level, but they are
  small enough to know whats going on in European
  research and implementation.
• Regions suffer even more compared to the
  national level from lack of commitment and
  cooperation, lack of skills, lack of funding, and
  the lack of appropriate legal frameworks. Apart
  from research and deployment resources, regions
  need to be consulted much more and given higher
  priority in things like i2010, Lisbon II, CIP,
  etc.

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Regional Experiences Recommendations

• Accountability and participation
• Ensure accountability / responsibility matches
  power.
• Address the democratic deficit, both in
  engagement and voting, but ensure
• is spread as widely as possible (does not
  increase relative voice of those already loudest)
• participation is matched by responsibility (e.g.
  for decision)
• participation is supported by knowledge and
  awareness of (often complex) trade-offs

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Balancing regional position
...between local citizens - and central
governments...
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Regional Experiences Recommendations

• Balancing acts
• Balance simplicity (which is easy but tends to be
  one-size-fits-all) with complexity (which is
  difficult but ensures better fit).
• Balance change and adaptability with stability
  and continuity.
• Improve political decision-making made by
  politicians (legal frameworks and law making),
  and law enforcement.
• Improve policy (non-political) decision-making.
• Balance transparency and privacy.

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Regional Experiences Recommendations

• Commitment and SWOT
• Top political commitment and top civil servant
  champions are necessary.
• Regulation and the legal basis may need changing.
• It is useful to see the eGovernment initiative
  within the big picture, to see where its outcomes
  will fit in the wider strategy be strategic but
  know also your limitations.
• Assess and manage risks (and take some sensible
  risks!)
• Understand your strengths and weaknesses.
• Identify and anticipate opportunities as well as
  threats and barriers, all of which can be legal,
  technological, managerial, cultural