The Future of Democracy in Europe

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The Future of Democracy in Europe

• e-Democracy
• From theory to practice

www.access2democracy.org
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Why e-Democracy?

• What is the situation Today
• ?Abstention of citizens from the political
  process to the extend of forsaking their
  dominant democratic right Voting
  !
• ? Democratic deficit even in established
  democracies
• (not yet readily apparent to all citizens)
• ? Legitimacy Accountability at stake
• Citizens indifference, disengagement, mistrust
• a strong feeling of being left-out

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Why e-Democracy?

• Globalization
• ? Issues of a global nature which cannot be dealt
  with effectively at the level of National
  governments
• ? Global governance institutions not adapted to
  their new role - not accountable to citizens
  affected by their policies a reform debate has
  started (e.g. UN)
• ? Interconnectedness on all fronts except
  citizens
• ? Global problems need Global solutions to
  formulate Global policies and take Global action

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Why e-Democracy?

• Communication a prerequisite for Democracy
• ? ICTs can offer the means for transnational
  communication, collaboration and deliberation
• ?A historic opportunity to exploit this,
  promoting the emergence of a participatory and
  deliberative democracy engaging citizens and the
  civil society in its workings.
• Local National - Global level

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What is - what is not

• ?Its not - About technology
• - An e-government service
• - Just about e-voting
• - Push-button democracy
• - An alternative democracy
• - A panacea
• ? It is -About consultation deliberation
• - About right of access and
  accountability
• - About peoples voices being heard
  respected.

e-democracy is about Democracy
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e-voting deliberation

• Means for access
• Quality depth of information
• Friendly interface respect for citizens
• Deliberation consultation
• e-voting

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Threats to e-democracy

• ? Digital divide among nations - among citizens
• ? Concentration of Technology (developed nations,
  corporate entities)
• ? Inertia lack of adaptability from bureaucracy
  
• administrative structures
• ? Credibility Due to technological, commercial,
  political malpractice
• e-Democracy is still in its infancy real
  experiments are crucial for the development of
  best practices early-on

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• A 21st century
• international organization
• for e-democracy

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A Global Perspective
Our Mission access2democracy aims to promote the
principles and practice of participatory
e-democracy within the global arena. Hence we aim
to enhance democratic values and institutions and
citizens access to decision-making processes.
Our Honorary Board Maria Livanos-Cattaui SG,
International Chamber of Commerce Lawrence
Lessig Prof of Law at Stanford Law School, Chair
of the Creative Commons Kumi Naidoo SG CEO of
CIVICUS Nicholas Negroponte MIT Media
Lab George A. Papandreou Leader of the
Opposition, Greece - former MFA Bill Richardson
Governor of New Mexico US, former U.S.
Ambassador to the U.N. Amartya Sen Nobel
Laureate, Lamont University Prof. Emeritus at
Harvard University

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• Experiments in e-Democracy

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Online Global Poll on Environment

• ?World Summit for Sustainable Development
• Johannesburg 2002
• ?The first Online Global Poll on the Environment
  and Sustainable Development issues
• ?The first global eDemocracy project under the
  auspices of a Global Governance Institution - UN.

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Project ID Card
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e-Vote Vote for the EU YOU Want

• ?Greek Presidency of the European Union in 2003
  (initiative of MFA)
• ? Probably the most successful eDemocracy
  experiment to date gt 175.000 participants
• ? The first large scale eDemocracy experiment
  initiated by policy makers and linked to the
  decision making bodies

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The Web Site
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Project ID Card
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Novel aspects

• ? Direct feed to policy debates
• ?Sensitive issues not shied away (e.g. Iraq)
• ? First attempt at analyzing e-voices (based on
  frequency of word-usage, a Google-type indexing
  mechanism)
• ? Extensive pan-European media partnership and
  civil society outreach campaign (500 European
  and national NGOs, schools, universities, trade
  associations, think tanks, political parties,
  interest groups, and local/regional/national
  governments contacted to drive public
  participation)

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e-Voices Cyprus

• ? An e-Democracy experiment in a Deep Rooted
  Conflict Area
• ? Objective Application of e-Democracy platforms
  to create neutral and effective channels of
  communication through an open dialogue on vital
  issues of mutual interest to Greek Cypriots and
  Turkish Cypriots

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The Web Site
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Project ID Card
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Major Lessons Learned

• ? Legitimacy Without political commitment and
  active involvement of
• policy makers any eDemocracy project loses its
  potential impact
• towards greater citizen engagement.
• ? Ensure citizens access to accessible
  information (avoid jargon etc
• which only cloud good intentions). We need
  educated and informed
• citizens
• ? Build sound technological and conceptual
  platforms.
• Accessibility, security, privacy are musts, not
  bonuses or add-ons
• ? Adequate resources access to expertise is
  paramount Human,
• Financial, Technological
• ? Sound awareness campaigns.
• ? Merge on-line with off-line tools and
  communications

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The road ahead Suggestions

• ? Be proactive
• e-Democracy should not be exclusively bonded
  with the PC and the Internet We have to keep
  looking at highest penetration mediums and future
  convergence of technologies.
• ? Pooling of resources
• International cooperation for sharing of
  ideas, practices and resources Duplication of
  effort will hinder success.
• A consensus on best practices will benefit
  all involved.
• ?Extroversion
• Talk and especially listen to the citizens.
  They know

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The case for e-democracy

• The Internet can be used by citizens to watch
  their
• governments - rather than by governments to watch
  their
• citizens Prof. Manuel Castells
• e-democracy can help enhance
• a culture of democracy.

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Why (e)-Democracy?

• Tell me and Ill forget
• Show me and Ill remember
• Involve me and Ill understand
• (Old Chinese proverb)

www.access2democracy.org
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• Visit our site
• www.access2democracy.org
• Contact us access_at_access2democracy.org