Open government: A tool for democracy?

Citation

Sorice M & De Blasio E (2016) Open government: A tool for democracy?. Medijske Studije, 7 (14), pp. 14-31. https://doi.org/10.20901/ms.7.14.3

Abstract
The growing disconnection between citizens and decision-makers is pushing politics towards a re-shaping of institutional design. New spaces of political participation are sustained and even reinforcedby communication, especially by digital communication. Governments and public administrations can find and use different models to facilitate citizens’ participation; e-government, open government and a specific design of digital democracy. In this respect, open government can constitute a way to re-connect citizens and political institutions, but at the same time, it can also be an “appealing” tool to institutionalize bottom-up participation and so anesthetizing it. The aim of this article is to present the first findings of an international research project about open government and participatory platforms in four European countries (France, Italy, Spain, the UK). The study tries to understand if participatory platforms can improve the quality of democracy, and if open government can contribute to democratizing democracy.

Keywords
open government; participation; communication; democracy; democratic innovations

Journal
Medijske Studije: Volume 7, Issue 14