Going Digital? - Citizen Participation and the Future of Direct Democracy

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
International Exchange ◽  
The Political ◽  
Disciplinary Boundaries ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Future

Do new technologies represent a turning point? This question was the beginning of a project on modern direct democracy, which resulted in the DISPUTE conference "Past, Present and Future of Direct Democracy", which took place on October 19th and 20th, 2018 at the Istituto Svizzero in Rome. The event was designed as an exchange between Switzerland and Italy, with the political cultures of the two neighboring countries being put up for discussion as case studies. While Switzerland is often regarded as an exemplary case of modern direct democracy, in recent years Italy has had heated discussions about its representative institutions. This was the starting point for an international exchange across cultural, linguistic and disciplinary boundaries.

Popular Access to the Decision‐making Process in Switzerland: The Role of Direct Democracy

1979 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 180-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marjorie Mowlam
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Political Choices ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Popular Control

CENTRAL TO THE STUDY OF DEMOCRATIC POLITICS IS THE IDEA of popular control over the activities of elites. More specifically, how can the preferences of citizens be aggregated into a political choice for a government policy or government personnel? Popular control, the effects of citizen participation in political life, is the basis of a major value orientation in the discipline: the notion of participant democracy. The degree of citizen participation becomes the key to the nature of democracry in a society : the more participation, the more democratic the political life of a country becomes. Political participation may take a variety of forms, e.g., running for office, holding office,voting, soliciting votes, and campaigning for, or contributing funds to, I the party of one's choice. However, voting is the most emphasized aspect of citizen participation, since it is the only form of active participation many engage in. The limitations placed on voting as a mechanism for popular control over political choices are well documented. Voters do not choose when to vote, nor the agenda. They have minimal input into the selection of candidates and the choice of issues which divide the parties at elections. Public participation in the selection and resolution of important policy issues between elections is severely restricted.

Crisis? What Crisis? EU Enlargement and the Political Economy of European Union Social Policy

2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rob Sykes
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Strategies ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Eu

This article considers the character of EU social policy and in particular the linkages between the EU's economic and social strategies. Arguably, the most recent enlargement of the EU represents a turning point for the future of EU social policy, though there is disagreement about its future if not so much about the causes of this crisis. The article concludes that the future political economy of EU social policy and indeed of the EU itself may be subject to fundamental changes.

E-Governance in Slovenia

2012 ◽  
pp. 173-187
Author(s):  
Suzana Žilic Fišer ◽  
Sandra Bašic ◽  
Dejan Vercic ◽  
Petra Cafnik
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Political Process ◽  
The Political ◽  
Direct Communication ◽  
National Assembly ◽  
Legislative Procedure ◽  
Citizen Initiatives ◽  
The Republic

Modern communication technology in principle makes political participation feasible. Information, consultation, and participation of citizens in the working of their highest political body – a parliament- should be easier than ever. This chapter analyses if this is really so on the case of Slovenia and its parliament, the National Assembly. Parliamentary website of the Republic of Slovenia is studied in terms of usability, usefulness and utility those are the key criteria in discussion about website performance. The analysis of e-democracy takes into account citizen participation in the legislative procedure, enabling direct communication with the members of the parliament, possibilities for citizen initiatives, and procedure and content transparency at each stage of the decision-making process. The chapter reports on limits of the current website of the National Assembly of Slovenia and proposes guidelines for better use of new technologies in the political process and for improving user experience.

scholarly journals Framtidsfantasier

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 47-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lena Sotevik
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Preschool Teachers ◽  
Group Interview ◽  
The Political ◽  
First Case ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Critical Perspectives

The present article explores how situated queerness takes place in relation to the construction of child and childhood. Lee Edelman (2004) argues that the child is opposed to, and in need of protection from contact with, homosexuality, which means that the queer cannot be part of the political fantasies of the future in which the child is central. In view of this, but unlike Edelman, I argue in this article that the child is part of different future fantasies, where the child is not necessarily separated from queerness. Here, I present contemporary connections between the child and queerness and analyze how possibilities and limitations appear in relation to this. Through two case studies, the article takes on a multi-sited approach (Marcus 1995), following when queerness is introduced on arenas where childhood is constructed. The first case is located to a preschool where the staff recently carried out hbtq-education and -certification and the analyzed data is one group interview with five preschool teachers and their principle. The second case is located in social media and consists of reactions on the presence of lesbian characters in the children’s comic Bamse, where 326 commentary posts around this topic are analyzed. Based on critical perspectives on age and sexuality, this article discuss what normalizations about childhood and heterosexuality are being made, and how these normalizations condition how queer sexuality can be present within the two childhood arenas represented in the material. Conclusions drawn are that both in the preschool and in the adults’ reactions to children’s culture, heterosexuality passes unnoticed, while queerness is made something remarkable. The relationship between queer and childhood can here be understood as both requested and questioned, which I present as conditioned queerness, and the child and childhood as spaces where different discourses about the child’s best and desirable future are negotiated.

Towards a Political Theory of eLearning

2017 ◽  
pp. 107-122
Author(s):  
Celia Romm-Livermore ◽  
Pierluigi Rippa ◽  
Mahesh S. Raisinghani
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Strategy ◽  
Political Strategies ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Political Outcomes

This study focuses on the political strategies that are utilized in the context of eLearning. The starting point for this paper is the eLearning Political Strategies (ELPoS) model. The model is based on two dimensions: 1) the direction of the political strategy (upward or downward), and 2) the scope of the political strategy (individual or group based). The interaction between the above dimensions defines four types of eLearning political strategies, which result in different political outcomes. The presentation of the model is followed by four mini case studies that demonstrate the political strategies that the model outlines. The discussion and conclusion sections integrate the findings from the case studies and elaborate on the rules that govern the application of political strategies in different eLearning contexts.

Envisioning the Future of a Multi-Channel World By 2020

2011 ◽  
pp. 295-308
Author(s):  
Markku Tinnila ◽  
Theresa Lauraeus-Niinivaara
Keyword(s):  
New Technologies ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Customer Needs ◽  
Digital Services ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Business Perspective ◽  
The Future ◽  
Business Forecasting ◽  
Channel Environment ◽  
Electronic Channels

Envisioning the future is always challenging, and the multi-channel environment is no exception to that rule. The objective of this study was to hypothesize upon the kind of digital services that will likely develop by the year 2020 in a networked, multi-channel business environment. Our starting point was to approach the analysis from a business perspective; in other words, we tried to avoid the typical technology-focused e-business forecasting, which charts the development of new technologies and devices. Instead, we tried to survey for services that would be available across different electronic channels and meet customer needs in the future, as well as what types of businesses would develop around these services. Consequently, this study gives answers to questions like, what will be the future of e-services, who needs and uses them, how will the customer want to buy such services, who will produce e-services and what will the earnings logic be based upon?

Hybrid Regimes and Arab Democracy

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce K. Rutherford
Keyword(s):  
Analytical Approach ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Transition To Democracy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Hybrid Regimes ◽  
Theoretical Literature ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Future ◽  
Hybrid Regime

This chapter analyzes the political future of Egypt and the Arab world, which may include a steady deepening of liberalism and, possibly, democracy. It suggests that a full transition to democracy is not likely in any contemporary Arab regime. However, for hybrid regimes that share characteristics of both an autocratic order and a democratic order, a reversion to full authoritarianism is equally unlikely. In order to understand the future of democracy in the Arab world, we need to understand how these hybrid regimes emerge, why they remain stable, and whether they will transition toward democracy. The theoretical literature on hybrid regimes provides a valuable starting point for this analysis. The chapter presents an analytical approach for studying the emergence of a hybrid regime and applies it to Egypt. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.

scholarly journals Small Corporations: Better Controlling the Spigot of ‘Red Tape”

2010 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
Quality Standards ◽  
The Political ◽  
Exponential Rate ◽  
Doing Business ◽  
Resource Poor ◽  
The Future ◽  
Red Tape ◽  
Alternative Approaches

Regulation in Australia appears to be increasing at an exponential rate. For small businesses that, are often resource poor and isolated, compliance is a burden. They face a paradigm conflict with regulators, who often are imbued with the objective of maintaining quality standards and perceptions of servicing an industry, while the regulated see regulation as an evil and a cost to doing business. Two case studies illustrate the political minefields in alternative approaches to regulation. Finally, the paper reviews changes in regulation internationally and in Australia and puts forward some innovative options for the future implementation of regulation of small businesses.

A Care Informatics Approach to Telehomecare Applications

2011 ◽  
pp. 368-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Glascock ◽  
David Kutzik
Keyword(s):  
New Technologies ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Future Success ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Future ◽  
Care Models ◽  
Care Informatics

The authors argue in this chapter that telehomecare is comprised of three separate components: 1) the technology that collects and transfers the data; 2) the informatics that transforms the data into information and then stores and displays it; and 3) the care component that actually delivers the care. Furthermore, the authors maintain that, for telehomecare to be successful, emphasis must shift from developing new technologies to determining the best means of integrating information into sustainable care models. The authors conclude that the future success of telehomecare is largely based on making the care needs of individuals the starting point, rather than an afterthought, and viewing the technology and informatics as tools not solutions.

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