Civic E-Participation in Central and Eastern Europe: A Comparative Analysis
Authors: Izabela Kapsa
Abstract:
Civic participation is an important aspect of democracy. The contemporary model of democracy is based on citizens' participation in political decision-making (deliberative democracy, participatory democracy). This participation takes many forms of activities like display of slogans and symbols, voting, social consultations, political demonstrations, membership in political parties or organizing civil disobedience. The countries of Central and Eastern Europe after 1989 are characterized by great social, economic and political diversity. Civil society is also part of the process of democratization. Civil society, funded by the rule of law, civil rights, such as freedom of speech and association and private ownership, was to play a central role in the development of liberal democracy. Among the many interpretations of concepts, defining the concept of contemporary democracy, one can assume that the terms civil society and democracy, although different in meaning, nowadays overlap. In the post-communist countries, the process of shaping and maturing societies took place in the context of a struggle with a state governed by undemocratic power. State fraud or repudiation of the institution is a representative state, which in the past was the only way to manifest and defend its identity, but after the breakthrough became one of the main obstacles to the development of civil society. In Central and Eastern Europe, there are many obstacles to the development of civil society, for example, the elimination of economic poverty, the implementation of educational campaigns, consciousness-related obstacles, the formation of social capital and the deficit of social activity. Obviously, civil society does not only entail an electoral turnout but a broader participation in the decision-making process, which is impossible without direct and participative democratic institutions. This article considers such broad forms of civic participation and their characteristics in Central and Eastern Europe. The paper is attempts to analyze the functioning of electronic forms of civic participation in Central and Eastern European states. This is not accompanied by a referendum or a referendum initiative, and other forms of political participation, such as public consultations, participative budgets, or e-Government. However, this paper will broadly present electronic administration tools, the application of which results from both legal regulations and increasingly common practice in state and city management. In the comparative analysis, the experiences of post-communist bloc countries will be summed up to indicate the challenges and possible goals for further development of this form of citizen participation in the political process. The author argues that for to function efficiently and effectively, states need to involve their citizens in the political decision-making process, especially with the use of electronic tools.
Keywords: Central and Eastern Europe, e-participation, e-government, post-communism.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1316037
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 947References:
[1] A. Kavanaugh, S. Krishnan, M. Pérez-Quiñones, J. Tedesco, K. Madondo, A. Ahuja, “Encouraging civic participation through local news aggregation”, Information Polity 2014, vol. 19, pp. 37-38.
[2] J. S. Mill, On Liberty, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003; L. Hobhouse, Social evolution and political theory, New York: Columbia University Press, 1911; J. Dewey, Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education, Mineola, New York: Dover Publicaions Inc., 2004.
[3] D. Pietrzyk-Reeves, „Idea społeczeństwa obywatelskiego”, Toruń: Wyd. Naukowe UMK, 2012, pp. 218-219.
[4] J. Żarnowski, „Społeczeństwa XX wieku”, Wrocław: Ossolineum, 1999, pp. 147-148.
[5] B. Pająk, „Stan społeczeństwa obywatelskiego – Polska na tle innych krajów Unii Europejskiej” in Unia Europejska a społeczeństwo obywatelskie, R. Paradowski, Ed., Poznań: Wyd. Nauk. UAM, 2005, p. 106.
[6] Z. Zagórski, „Problem obywatelskości społeczeństw Europy Środkowowschodniej a ich kapitały strukturalne” in Nowoczesność, ponowoczesność. Społeczeństwo obywatelskie w Europie Środkowej i Wschodniej, S. Partycki, Ed., Lublin: Wyd. KUL, 2007, pp. 42-45.
[7] D. Mider, „Partycypacja polityczna w Internecie. Studium politologiczne”, Warszawa: Elipsa, 2008, p. 99.
[8] T. Ehrlich, “Civic Responsibility and Higher Education”, http://www.nytimes.com/ref/college/collegespecial2/coll_aascu_defi.html, (7.06.2016).
[9] J. Ekman, E. Amnå, “Political participation and civic engagement: towards a new typology”, Human Affairs 2012, vol. 22, p. 269.
[10] K.L. Hacker, J. van Dijk, “Digital Democracy: Issues of Theory and Practice”, London: Sage, 2000, p. 1.
[11] M. Lakomy, „Demokracja 2.0. Interakcja polityczna w nowych mediach”, Kraków: Wyd. WAM, 2013, p. 148.
[12] S. C. J. Palvia, S. S. Sharma, “E-Government and E-Governance: Definitions/Domain Framework and Status around the World”, https://www.academia.edu/6283380/E-Government_and_E-Governance_Definitions_Domain_Framework_and_Status_around_the_World, (7.06.2016).
[13] http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/download/4201141e.pdf?expires=1467800475&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=D213E8E6E22AD5628041D211181DFF45, (7.06.2016).
[14] A.V. Anttiroiko, “Electronic Government: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications, Information Science Reference”, Hershey-New York, 2008, p. 33.
[15] B. Kasprzyk, „Aspekty funkcjonowania e-administracji dla jakości życia obywateli” in Nierówności społeczne a wzrost gospodarczy. Społeczeństwo informacyjne – regionalne aspekty rozwoju, vol. 23, Rzeszów: Wyd. UR, 2011, pp. 346-347.
[16] A. Łoś-Tomiak, „Społeczeństwo obywatelskie w Polsce” in Wybrane zagadnienia polskiej i europejskiej demokracji, S. Wróbel, Ed., Toruń: Adam Marszałek, 2008, p. 145.
[17] L. Kacprzak, K. Pająk, „Społeczeństwo obywatelskie. Interdyscyplinarny wymiar problemu”, Piła: PSWZ, 2006, pp. 237-238.
[18] M. Bsoul, „Szanse rozwoju społeczeństwa obywatelskiego w krajach Europy” in Czas społeczeństwa obywatelskiego: między teorią a praktyką, B. Krauz-Mozer, P. Borowiec, Ed., Kraków: Wyd. UJ, 2006, pp. 250-251.
[19] Eurostat, http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/information-society/data/database (8.12.2017).
[20] https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/desi (12.12.2017).
[21] https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/en-us/Reports/UN-E-Government-Survey-2016 (20.09.2016).
[22] G. Anthes, “Estonia: A Model for e-Government”, Communications of the ACM, June 2015, vol. 58, no. 6.
[23] A. Lust, “Online voting: Boon or bane for democracy?”, Information Polity 2015, vol. 20, pp. 313–323.
[24] TNS Emor, “Estonian populations’ satisfaction with public e-services 2014”, https://www.mkm.ee/sites/default/files/e-teenused_2014_tulemuste_luhikokkuvote_eng_tns_emor.pdf (15.11.2017).
[25] D. Špaček, “E-participation and web pages of Czech statutory cities”, http://irspm2015.com/index.php/irspm/IRSPM2015/paper/view/847 (17.11.2017).
[26] D. Volkov, “The Internet and Political Involvement in Russia, Russian Education and Society” 2012, vol. 54, no. 9, pp. 49–87.
[27] W. McHenry, A. Borisov, “E-Government and Democracy in Russia”, Communications of the Association for Information Systems 2006, vol. 17, article 48.
[28] M. Theiss, „System pozornie otwarty. O instytucjonalnych uwarunkowaniach lokalnej partycypacji politycznej w Polsce” in Partycypacja społeczna i aktywizacja w rozwiązywaniu problemów społeczności lokalnych, M. Stec, M. Mączyński, Ed., Warszawa: Wolters Kluwer, 2012, p. 74.
[29] W. Kębłowski, „Budżet partycypacyjny. Ewaluacja”, Warszawa: Instytut Obywatelski, 2014, p. 4.
[30] L. Chiriac, Z. Szabó, “Legal and regulatory implications of the successful implementation of the public policy of e-government in Romania reflection on the future and barriers”, Juridical Current 2014, vol. 17 Issue 3, p. 99.
[31] S.W. Holliday, “How citizens around the world are dismantling barriers to their well-being through technology-driven collaboration”, Diplomatic Courier 2015, vol. 9, issue 1, p. 49.
[32] B. Lewenstein, „Zasoby lokalne: zarys koncepcji” in Samoorganizacja społeczeństwa polskiego: III sektor i wspólnoty lokalne w jednoczącej się Europie, P. Gliński, B. Lewenstein, A. Siciński, Ed., Warszawa: IFIS PAN, 2004, p. 296.