Top Trumps or Trivial

Pursuit? Redefining the

Rules of Political
Engagement in the Age of
Web 2.0
Shefali Virkar
Oxford Internet Institute/
Department of Politics and IR
University of Oxford
shefali.virkar@oii.ox.ac.uk

Young Citizens, Old Problems

Increased questioning of traditional

democratic politics in Western liberal
democracies
Growing

political apathy and a broader

disillusionment with political
institutions, policies and actors - e.g.
low voter turn-out.

Particularly

true amongst young people

Are we seeing a crisis of democracy ?

Breaking Barriers to
eGovernment
Exploring eConsultation
Initiatives in the European
Union

e-Governance

e-Government

e-Democracy

e-Engagement

e-Voting

Category 1: Duration

Long Term Consultations

Citizen
reaction
soughtnot
forbound
current
issues
Long-lasting
initiatives,
within
any
time-period

Short Term Consultations

Citizentoopinions
sought
on key
political
Come
a close once
event
ends
/ time-

events,
period isduring
over a specific period of time

One-off Consultations
Highly specialised, issue-based often ad
hoc consultations

Category 2 : Level of Government

Local Government

National Government

Regional Government/Pan European

Initiatives

Category 3: Target Audience

The General Public

Participation

invited from the general

populace on a wide-ranging variety of issues

Targeted / Special Interest Groups

UK
Parliamentary
(such
Feedback
obtained Consultations
for specific issues
of as
immediate
concern
FloodForum.net,
Domestic Violence)

eConsultation in the
United Kingdom
The No.10 Downing Street
ePetitions Initiative

An Introduction to Petitioning
What

is a petition?

formal request to a higher authority

such as a Head of State or Parliament,
signed by one or a number of citizens
Traditionally paper-based
Not meant to be representative of a
countrys opinion
Advent of Web 2.0: The Rise of the
ePetition

Different from conventional petitions only in

the way signatures are collected and
delivered

Petitioning in the United Kingdom

Long-established convention of petitioning

the Prime Minister
Petitions

traditionally submitted in person at

the door of No.10

Received

a 21st century make-over: The PMs

ePetitions Website launched in November
2006

Joint

venture between the Prime Ministers

Office and mySociety

ePetition Website: Key Features

Home Page
View recently submitted petitions, or
Create/Submit
a Petition
petitions according
to popularity ranking
Petitioners
create
petitions
using
an
On
Petitions
average
must
1 inconform
6 petitions
to certain
are
rejected
ePetitions
form
standards
set
down in the Civil Service
Sign
a Petition
Code
Once submitted, a petition may be signed
by anyone accessing the site
Feedback

A maximum email
Petitioners
of twoaddress
responses
used
from
by the
Government
forissues
providing
raised,
feedback
and two
Data
Protectionto
replies by the petitioner
Data held by mySociety and not by the
PMO or any other Government agency

Advantages to ePetitioning

The website allows for informed petitioning

and a better quality of participation

Easy to obtain background information

before signing up

Citizens able to research the finer points of

an issue before deciding whether or not to
support it

Citizens receive feedback on the progress of

their petition, once signed

From a Government standpoint, the initiative

aids informed decision-making and better
dialogue with citizens
Popular

petitions and citizen comments may

be used during the policy process

Extremely

popular petitions may serve to

highlight issues and uncover underlying
discontents which have not yet been picked
up by the media

New Opportunities, Old Problems

Most petitions can be ignored by the

Government without fear of retaliation

Tendency for serious petitions to get mixed

up with not-so-serious ones

Government must strike a balance between

the overarching democratic requirements of
openness, accessibility and participation
and the need to keep within stringent Data
Protection standards

In addition, the initiative faces many old

and well-known stumbling blocks,
including:
Political
Lack

Apathy

of Publicly Available Information

Selection

of Participants

Difficulties of
Problems

Dealing with Expectations

of Digital and Social Exclusion

By combining traditional access to politics

with technology ePetitions are a powerful
way of making politicians aware of a section
of public opinion

However

An ePetition itself simply indicates what one

group of people think on a subject

The ePetitions system is a direct replica of

the traditional petitions model, and not a
radically new democratic process

Engaging the Public

Exploring the Past, Present &
Future of e-Democracy in the
EU and Beyond

New Issues, New Questions

Privacy and security issues

Ability
Remoteofuser
process
authentication
to generate
totrust
prevent
andfraud

and identity
increase
participation
theft

The role of moderators in discussions

Danger

that opinions which are outside of

pre-defined parameters may be deliberately
marginalised or excluded

The stage in the policymaking process at

which consultations should be introduced

Can Government 2.0 offer something radically

different from Government 1.0?

Will new forms of voter engagement like the

ePetitions lead to changes in policy, or will
entire exercises be quietly forgotten after any
initial hype?

Are there a fresh set of ways in which

advances in Web technology may be applied
to help bring communities together and
enable government to deliver public services
that meet personal, family and community
choices?

Long
Term

Local
Madrid Participa
(Spain)
Iperbole (Italy)

One-off

Short
Term

Bristol City Council

(UK)

National
The No. 10 Downing
Street ePetitions
Website (UK)
Tana Otsustan Mina
(Estonia)
The Scottish
Parliamentary

Your Voice in Europe

(the European
Commission)

Initiative (UK)

Digital Administration
Programme the
The City of
Democracy Project
Esslingen (Germany)
(Denmark)
Energy Technology
Futures (Canada)

The City Planning

Commission of Kalix
(Sweden)

Pan-European

Online Parliamentary
Inquiry into Domestic
Violence (UK)
FloodForum.net (UK)

Toute lEurope
(based in France)

The Future of Food

(Germany / the
Netherlands)

Can Government 2.0 offer something radically

different from Government 1.0?

Will new forms of voter engagement like the

ePetitions lead to changes in policy, or will
entire exercises be quietly forgotten after any
initial hype?

Are there a fresh set of ways in which

advances in Web technology may be applied
to help bring communities together, create
new spaces for constructive democratic
interaction and enable government to deliver
public services that meet personal, family and
community choices?