The Coming of E-Democracy

i The idea that information and communication technologies (ICTs) have the capacity to greatly enhance democracy is hardly new. As long ago as the 1970s, there was interest in the potential of cable networks to facilitate democratic engagement (see, for example, Laudon, 1977), while experiments with different forms of electronic voting, online discussions and so on began in the 1980s. Yet it is only now, half way through the first decade of the 21 st century, that real attempts are being made to harness technology in the explicit service of democracy. Outside of government, electronically mediated forms of participation are commonplace. The best example of this engagement is the plethora of interactive television programmes that have merged in recent years, where viewers actively decide the fate of contestants in game shows, contribute to debates and so on. From a TV producer's perspective, the public's appetite for participation in the non-political world seems almost unlimited. The transfer of these technologies to the political world, however, has been slow and cautious. Despite some high profile experiments in e-voting in both the USA and Europe, most countries still appear to be a long way from allowing large scale electronic voting in national elections (cf. Trechsel & Mendez, 2005; Kersting & Baldersheim, 2004). The putative electronic public sphere that the Internet supposedly offered has failed to materialise in many instances, although there are some examples of healthy debates. Political parties have only tentatively experimented with new technologies and then only out of competitive fear (see, for example, Gibson, Nixon & Ward, 2004). Governments at both national and local levels (and, indeed, at the international level) have been keen to pursue e-government where it has led to administrative efficiency but have seen e-democracy as a lower or secondary priority (Eiffert & Puschel, 2004). It is only now, therefore, that e-democracy initiatives are starting to appear. For the first time, governments are taking a real interest in the potential for e-democracy with a range of programmes that are actively seeking to enhance citizen engagement. At the same time, citizens themselves are beginning to make more effective use of the internet and associated technologies to self-organise and to hold their governments (and other influential bodies in some instances) to account. In this respect, e-democracy is beginning to come of age. This special issue on e-democracy comes at an important point. As e-democracy begins to become a real, …