Top Trumps or Trivial

Pursuit? Redefining the

Rules of Political

Engagement in the Age of

Web 2.0

Shefali Virkar Oxford Internet Institute/

Department of Politics and IR

University of Oxford

shefali.virkar@oii.ox.ac.uk

Young Citizens, Old Problems

Increased questioning of traditional democratic politics in Western liberal democracies

Growing political apathy and a broader disillusionment with political institutions, policies and actors - e.g. low voter turn-out.

Particularly true amongst young people

Are we seeing a crisis of democracy ?

Breaking Barriers to

eGovernment

Exploring eConsultation

Initiatives in the European

Union

e-Governance

e-Government e-Democracy

e-Engagement e-Voting

Category 1: Duration

Long Term Consultations

Long-lasting initiatives, not bound within any

time-period

Short Term Consultations

Citizen opinions sought on key political

events, during a specific period of time

One-off Consultations

Highly specialised, issue-based often ad hoc consultations

Citizen reaction sought for current issues

Come to a close once event ends / time-

period is over

Category 2 : Level of Government

Local Government

National Government

Regional Government/Pan European

Initiatives

Category 3: Target Audience

The General Public

Participation invited from the general

populace on a wide-ranging variety of issues

Targeted / Special Interest Groups

Feedback obtained for specific issues of

immediate concern

UK Parliamentary Consultations (such as

FloodForum.net, Domestic Violence)

eConsultation in the

United Kingdom

The No.10 Downing Street

ePetitions Initiative

An Introduction to Petitioning

What is a petition? A formal request to a higher authority

such as a Head of State or Parliament, signed by one or a number of citizens

Traditionally paper-based

Not meant to be representative of a countrys opinion

Advent of Web 2.0: The Rise of the ePetition Different from conventional petitions only in

the way signatures are collected and delivered

Petitioning in the United Kingdom

Long-established convention of petitioning

the Prime Minister

Petitions traditionally submitted in person at

the door of No.10

Received a 21st century make-over: The PMs ePetitions Website launched in November

2006

Joint venture between the Prime Ministers Office and mySociety

ePetition Website: Key Features

Home Page

View recently submitted petitions, or

petitions according to popularity ranking

Create/Submit a Petition

Petitioners create petitions using an

ePetitions form Petitions must conform to certain

standards set down in the Civil Service

Code

On average 1 in 6 petitions are rejected

Sign a Petition

Data Protection

Once submitted, a petition may be signed by anyone accessing the site Feedback

Petitioners email address used by the Government for providing feedback

A maximum of two responses from

Government to issues raised, and two

replies by the petitioner Data held by mySociety and not by the

PMO or any other Government agency

Advantages to ePetitioning

The website allows for informed petitioning

and a better quality of participation

Easy to obtain background information

before signing up

Citizens able to research the finer points of

an issue before deciding whether or not to

support it

Citizens receive feedback on the progress of

their petition, once signed

From a Government standpoint, the initiative

aids informed decision-making and better

dialogue with citizens

Popular petitions and citizen comments may

be used during the policy process

Extremely popular petitions may serve to

highlight issues and uncover underlying

discontents which have not yet been picked

up by the media

New Opportunities, Old Problems

Most petitions can be ignored by the Government without fear of retaliation

Tendency for serious petitions to get mixed up with not-so-serious ones

Government must strike a balance between the overarching democratic requirements of openness, accessibility and participation and the need to keep within stringent Data Protection standards

In addition, the initiative faces many old and well-known stumbling blocks, including:

Political Apathy

Lack of Publicly Available Information

Selection of Participants

Difficulties of Dealing with Expectations

Problems of Digital and Social Exclusion

By combining traditional access to politics with technology ePetitions are a powerful way of making politicians aware of a section of public opinion

However

An ePetition itself simply indicates what one group of people think on a subject

The ePetitions system is a direct replica of the traditional petitions model, and not a radically new democratic process

Exploring the Past, Present &

Future of e-Democracy in the

EU and Beyond

Engaging the Public

Privacy and security issues

The role of moderators in discussions

The stage in the policymaking process at which consultations should be introduced

New Issues, New Questions

Remote user authentication to prevent fraud

and identity theft

Ability of process to generate trust and

increase participation

Danger that opinions which are outside of

pre-defined parameters may be deliberately

marginalised or excluded

Can Government 2.0 offer something radically different from Government 1.0?

Will new forms of voter engagement like the ePetitions lead to changes in policy, or will entire exercises be quietly forgotten after any initial hype?

Are there a fresh set of ways in which advances in Web technology may be applied to help bring communities together and enable government to deliver public services that meet personal, family and community choices?

Madrid Participa (Spain)

Iperbole (Italy)

Bristol City Council (UK)

The No. 10 Downing

Street ePetitions

Website (UK)

Tana Otsustan Mina

(Estonia)

The Scottish

Parliamentary

Initiative (UK)

Your Voice in Europe

(the European

Commission)

The City of

Esslingen (Germany)

Digital Administration

Programme the

Democracy Project

(Denmark)

Energy Technology

Futures (Canada)

Toute lEurope

(based in France)

The City Planning

Commission of Kalix

(Sweden)

Online Parliamentary

Inquiry into Domestic

Violence (UK)

FloodForum.net (UK)

The Future of Food

(Germany / the

Netherlands)

Local National Pan-European L

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Sh

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Can Government 2.0 offer something radically different from Government 1.0?

Will new forms of voter engagement like the ePetitions lead to changes in policy, or will entire exercises be quietly forgotten after any initial hype?

Are there a fresh set of ways in which advances in Web technology may be applied to help bring communities together, create new spaces for constructive democratic interaction and enable government to deliver public services that meet personal, family and community choices?