E-democracy
E-democracy refers to the use of new information and communications technologies to allow citizens to participate in democratic processes. A high profile recent example is 10 Downing Street's e-petitions site, which has received 29,000 petitions and nearly 6 million signatures since its launch in November 2006. The Internet is also playing an increasing role in elections, with supporters of candidates or parties networking on social sites such as Facebook. This POSTnote will look at the impact of these and other recent examples of online democracy, including both 'top-down' initiatives by Government and Parliament and 'bottom-up' citizen-led projects. It would examine issues such as how to authenticate users online, social inclusion, and the regulation of online political advertisements.
Short title:
E-democracy
Start date:
2009-01
End date:
2009-01
Homepage:
http://www.parliament.uk/documents/post/postpn321.pdf
Project leader:
Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology of the UK Parliament (POST)
Country:
United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland