Political participation via social media: A case study of deliberative quality in the public online budgeting process of Frankfurt/Main, Germany 2013

If social media are to reinforce sustainability of political decisions, their design has conceptually to take into account the implications of deliberative democracy, which stresses the active cooperation of virtually all citizens of a democracy for the purposes of participatory involvement. Essential to deliberative e-democracy is therefore a technologically supported comprehensive discourse about political subjects which is also called deliberation. Theoretical implications of deliberation are discussed from the angle of political science and social psychology. Finally, the practical implications of deliberation rooted in social media are exemplified by an online citizen involvement for the public budgeting purposes of the city of Frankfurt/Main (Germany).