Collaborative e-democracy

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Collaborative e-democracy refers to a hybrid democratic model combining elements of direct democracy, representative democracy, and e-democracy (or the incorporation of ICTs into democratic processes). This concept, first introduced at international academic conferences in 2009, offers a pathway for citizens to directly or indirectly engage in policymaking. Steven Brams and Peter Fishburn describe it as an "innovative way to engage citizens in the democratic process," that potentially makes government "more transparent, accountable, and responsive to the needs of the people."^[1]

Collaborative e-democracy is a political system that enables governmental stakeholders (such as politicians, parties, ministers, MPs) and non-governmental stakeholders (including NGOs, political lobbies, local communities, and individual citizens) to collaborate in the development of public laws and policies. This collaborative policymaking process occurs through a government-sanctioned social networking site, with all citizens as members, thus facilitating collaborative e-policy-making. Michael Gallagher suggests that it can be a "powerful tool that can be used to improve the quality of decision-making."^[2] Andrew Reynolds even believes that "collaborative e-democracy is the future of democracy."^[3]

In this system, directly elected government officials, or ‘proxy representatives’, would undertake most law and policy-making processes, embodying aspects of representative democracy. However, citizens retain final voting power on each issue, a feature of direct democracy. Furthermore, every citizen is empowered to propose their own policies and, where relevant, initiate new policy processes (initiative). Collaboratively formulated policies, considering the views of a larger proportion of the citizenry, may result in more just, sustainable, and therefore, implementable outcomes. As Steven Brams and Peter Fishburn suggest, "collaborative e-democracy can help to ensure that all voices are heard, and that decisions are made in the best interests of the community."^[4] They argue that this can lead to "more just and sustainable outcomes."^[5]

Collaborative e-democracy can also help to improve the quality of decision-making, as noted by Michael Gallagher, who states, "By involving a wider range of people in the decision-making process, collaborative e-democracy can help to ensure that decisions are made on the basis of sound evidence and reasoning."^[6] Gallagher further proposes that this collaborative approach can contribute to "more sustainable outcomes."^[7]

Andrew Reynolds posits that "Collaborative e-democracy can help to make government more responsive to the needs of the people. By giving citizens a direct say in the decision-making process, collaborative e-democracy can help to ensure that government is more accountable to the people. This can lead to more implementable outcomes, as decisions are more likely to be supported by the people."^[8] Additional references support the idea that collaborative e-democracy can lead to more just, sustainable, and implementable outcomes.^[9][10][11]