E-petition systems and political participation: About institutional challenges and democratic opportunities

Authors

  • Knud Böhle
  • Ulrich Riehm

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v18i7.4220

Keywords:

petition, e-petition, e-democracy, varients of democracy, participation, e-participation, survey,

Abstract

The implementation of e-petition systems holds the promise to increase the participative and deliberative potential of petitions. The most ambitious e-petition systems allow for electronic submission, make publicly available the petition text, related documents and the final decision, allow supporting a petition by electronically co-signing it, and provide electronic discussion forums. Based on a comprehensive survey (2010/2011) of parliamentary petition bodies at the national level covering the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) plus Norway and Switzerland, the present state of public e-petitioning in the EU is presented, and the relevance of e-petition systems as a means of political participation is discussed.

Author Biographies

Knud Böhle

senior researcher at the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany

Ulrich Riehm

sociologist, specialized in technology assessment of ICT; senior researcher,

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Published

2013-06-08

How to Cite

Böhle, K., & Riehm, U. (2013). E-petition systems and political participation: About institutional challenges and democratic opportunities. First Monday, 18(7). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v18i7.4220