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[atlarge-discuss] FYI: E-DEMOCRACY - REMOVING THE ELECTORAL BLINKERS
Today's E-GOVERNMENT BULLETIN contains an interesting article in which this bit strikes me as particularly apposite:
>One of the main problems is that the demand for openness,
>accountability and transparency that drives e-business works
>against the processes that run political parties. There
>are too many groups with self-interests that dominate political
>parties who see no reason to change, even though e-democracy might
>potentially benefit the party as well as society at large.
One can hardly expect the self-interested to initiate the change. The question may well be "how can that change be made to happen anyhow?"
--Fwd
SECTION FOUR: OPINION
- E-DEMOCRACY.
* REMOVING THE ELECTORAL BLINKERS.
by Grant Kippen gkippen@hillbrooke.ca
and Gordon Jenkins
Political parties have traditionally been aggressive users of new
technologies. With the emergence of television in the 1950s as a mass
communications medium, parties have increasingly relied on
technological tools and isophisticated advertising techniques to reach
and influence voters as well as raise money during electoral
campaigns.
However, this trend does not appear as yet to be extending to the
internet. Jonah Seiger, co-founder and chief strategist for Mindshare
Internet Campaigns (http://www.mindshare.net), says that part of the
current resistance towards the greater use of the internet in political
campaigns is the fact that most professional campaign consultants, who
are the decision-makers in terms of campaign expenditures, are of the
old school and so tend to favour traditional approaches.
One of the key challenges faced by political parties in adopting e-
democracy is the way in which they incorporate new approaches with
more traditional methods. The Canadian Alliance Party, for example, is
using the internet in a variety of ways to support the more traditional
processes. For example, people can join the party or make a donation
over the internet but you can also accomplish the same tasks by
walking into a party office or using the telephone. The party recognises
that a digital divide exists within the membership, and that they need to
offer choice.
That said, political parties should be thinking bigger. Some politicians
and political parties have already begun to do so but parties need to
have internal discussion and experiment before any substantial
progress is likely to be made.
Mark Walsh, chief technology advisor for the Democratic National
Committee, believes that there is no natural migration path of political
parties towards of e-democracy as there has been for the corporate
sector towards e-business. One of the main problems is that the
demand for openness, accountability and transparency that drives e-
business works against the processes that run political parties. There
are too many groups with self-interests that dominate political parties
who see no reason to change, even though e-democracy might
potentially benefit the party as well as society at large.
If e-democracy forces political parties to become more open,
accessible and transparent, then it is bound to have an impact on party
structures and processes such as policy development, organization,
fundraising, membership and so on. Even with strong political
leadership and commitment, to undertake large scale change is likely to
take years to achieve, given the consultation and input that will be
required once party members become engaged.
In other words, there don't currently appear to be any strong incentives
for political parties to move beyond the focus on using the internet at
election.
So how should political parties respond to the challenges and
opportunities offered by e-democracy? The following is one suggestion
on how political parties could be encouraged to become more
aggressive in their e-democracy efforts.
Currently, parties are only rewarded for winning elections, which poses
a problem from a citizen engagement perspective, as there is no
incentive for them to engage in e-democracy activities on a broader
scale. If political parties were rewarded financially for undertaking
broader citizen engagement activities then some positive changes
might be possible. There is a precedent: political parties in Germany
have received government funding for undertaking education and
citizen engagement activities.
There is still time to create a more dynamic and citizen-centred
political engagement process, but those responsible for the stewardship
of political parties have to realise that change is required and take the
necessary steps to do something about it.
NOTE: Article by Grant Kippen, principal at the Hillbrooke Group,
and Gordon Jenkins, principal at Jenkins & Associates. The piece is
based on a paper presented to the 'Prospects for electronic democracy'
conference at Carnegie Mellon University in September:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-08/cmu-
fe081602.php
[Section four ends.]
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ISSN 1476-6310
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Judyth Mermelstein "cogito ergo lego ergo cogito..."
Montreal, QC <espresso@e-scape.net>
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"A word to the wise is sufficient. For others, use more."
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