e-Democracy and ICT

Developing democracy by using ICT

Allar, Janne and Andri

Turkey 2013

e-Democracy provides an opportunity to redisign political and administrative processes aimed towards more transparent, effective and participatory governance

e-Democracy is an essential component of modern democratic governance

The core of e-Democracy is not technology itself but the use of technology to empower citizens

What is e-Democracy?

Citizens participation in government on all levels by expressing their opinion and by voting

Making use of electronic communication in democracy

Citizens being offered information in order to form an opinion on political matters by using communication technologies

Idea of e-Democracy

Citizens can be approached easily◦ Information can be transported in a

more pointed way◦ effortless way of communication◦ no need to physically move◦ effective way of communicating

Cheap◦ Messages can be delivered to a great

quantity of recipients without much additional effort

Changing the „silent majority“ to active, citizens, making use of their opinions

Benefits of e-democracy

74 % of population are Internet users 63 % of the households have a computer

at home, 82 % of home computers connected to Internet.

Over 700 Public Internet Access Points in Estonia, 51 per 100 000 people.

More than 1,1 million smart-card type ID-cards issued (Estonian population is app. 1,3 million)

90% of tax declarations were e-declarations and 97% of businesses decalarations

1’st place in Internet Banking – next are Norway, Nederlands, New Zealand

18th of 134 place in Network Readiness index, 3th in eGov, 1 in eGov services (Global IT Report 2008-2009 for World Economic Forum)

e-Estonia

Handbook on e-Democracy◦ http://www.ega.ee/files/edemo_0.pdf

Democracy Administration◦ http://www.ega.ee/files/Demo%20admin

.pdf

e-Voting: lessons learnt and future challenges◦ http://www.ega.ee/files/27.10.06_Report

_evoting_Conference.pdf

Estonian publications

Political campaigning◦ Candidates or strategies are

introduced to the public via internet Communication with citizens

◦ The public is asked for opion on discussion etc.

Briefing government documents◦ The public gets informed about new

developments Voting

◦ Citizens can vote on behalf new laws or candidates

e-Democracy examples

e-Voting in Estonia - 140 000 voters in 2011

e-Democracy examples

*Armchair voters begin to vote...

Todays information and communication technologies help people with disabilities to:◦ Talk

Text-to-voice Programs

◦ Hear Software, hardware

◦ See Bionic eyes

◦ Move, walk Proccessor controlled

legs

ICT and disabled people

Disabled people benefit most from e-democracy

Disabled people can now participate more easily in society and democracy by using ICT services

e-Democracy and disabled people

Tehcnology ◦ Usage of computers and other

electronic devices that compensate or help with different impairments

Software◦ Different programs that help disabled

people to recieve information or express themselves

Means of communication◦ Internet, mobile networks and different

online services

How disabled people benefit from ICT and e-democracy?

eGovernment is a generic term that refers to any government functions or processes that are carried out in digital form over the Internet

What is e-Government?

e-Tax Board/e-Customs◦ Online filing of income taxes for

citizens and businesses e-Police and Border Guard Board

◦ Information about your documents, applications etc.

e-Health◦ Patients reciepts, health history etc.

e-Elections◦ Online voting and information about

candidates or laws

e-Government examples

Balanced e-Government

Required for citizens ◦ Personal identification card for

every citizen – ID Card

e-Government and ID card

Recent and most famous example – Arab Spring◦ Social media was the main instigator

of the uprisings◦ Its role in the uprisings has

demonstrated to the world its power◦ Information allowed the world to stay

updated with the protests and facilitated organizing protests

Movie about role of internet in todays world democracy◦ We Are Legion: The Story of the

Hacktivists (2012)

ICT democracy example

Role of ICT is tremendous in our world today

Democracy and governing will have to change and adapt new technologies

We live in interesting times!

Summary

“Democracy is a device that insures we shall be governed no better than we

deserve. ” – George Bernard Shaw

Thank you for listening!