Fraunhofer-Institut für System- und Innovationsforschung ISI

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  • Publication
    Binding decision-making
    ( 2019)
    Goos, Kerstin
    ;
    Korthagen, Iris
    Goos and Korthagen present a detailed analysis of the three case studies ""Green Primary"", ""Voting in Estonia"" and ""Voting in Switzerland"", which all describe different practices of online ballots. Relevant contextual factors of the digital tools with regard to the key dimensions input legitimacy, throughput legitimacy and output legitimacy are assessed in order to better understand the role these digital tools can play in the political decision-making process. The case studies are based on desk research and interviews with organizers and researchers of the e-participation processes and analyse the digital tool, the participants, participatory process and the results of the digital tool. The analysis shows that online voting tends to be more inclusive and that the process as such requires different steps to strengthen security and privacy of the online ballot. Furthermore, no clear indicators for an often-claimed increase of turnout exist, and, in general, scaling up online elections to a larger framework than the rather restricted ones analysed in this chapter requires major efforts with regard to legal, technical and social aspects.
  • Publication
    Options for Improving e-Participation at the EU Level
    ( 2019)
    Nielsen, Rasmus O.
    ;
    Hennen, Leonhard
    ;
    Korthagen, Iris
    ;
    Aichholzer, Georg
    ;
    Lindner, Ralf orcid-logo
    In this chapter, Nielsen et al. propose options for improving e-participation at the EU level without changing underlying legal frameworks. In response to the challenges to e-participation, which arise out of current institutional designs, the authors make creative use of the research results presented earlier in the book to suggest 'low-hanging fruits' for practical reform. The challenges addressed include the relative weakness of individual citizens' participation compared to that of CSO's, the weakness of the Parliament in the legislative process and the continued de-coupling of the EU policy process from the will of the European citizens. While the chapter proposes no easy fixes, it points to some obvious practical steps forward. To improve existing participation mechanisms, the authors recommend providing improved support to citizens using the ECI, investing in the back-office support needed for the EP Petitions Portal to realize its potential and improving the scalability of Your Voice in Europe through advanced data analysis. They also make four novel proposals, first among which is to experiment with participatory budgeting in relation to the Regional and Social Funds. The chapter ends with a plea for a long-term vision of a unified European participation structure to gather and harness the potentials of individual mechanisms.
  • Publication
    European e-democracy in practice. Introduction
    ( 2019)
    Hennen, Leonhard
    ;
    Korthagen, Iris
    ;
    Keulen, Ira van
    ;
    Aichholzer, Georg
    ;
    Lindner, Ralf orcid-logo
    ;
    Nielsen, Rasmus O.
    The introductory chapter provides an overview of the volume 'European e-Democracy in Practice'. The focus of the volume is on the exploration of the conditions needed to realise the democratic potential of the broad scope of tools, instruments and procedures to strengthen the ties between established processes of representative democratic decision-making and its constituencies, with a particular view to political communication and decision-making at the European level. Part I of the book provides the outcome of a broad literature review covering the scholarly debate on the achievements and potentials of e-democracy and its relevance for policymaking on the EU level. Part II of the book presents 22 case studies on the use of e-participation tools at the local, national and European levels which were carried out to learn about best practices and major challenges and problems of e-participation in practice. Finally, Part III provides a systematic comparative analysis of the case studies, and based on this analysis and the findings of the literature review, options for improving e-participation at the EU-level are discussed.