E-Participation in the Context of Democracy Concept Transformation

The paper is devoted to the study of «electronic participation» as a special form of social and political participation of citizens in public affairs. Conceptually, «electronic participation» is viewed as an integral part of “electronic democracy†. Therefore, studying the former would presume a need to draw on the classical democratic theory while rethinking the relevance of its provisions in a new socio-economic context influencing current democratization processes. Examining “electronic participation†as a new mechanism of the interactive relationship between authorities and society, the author argues that it is not technology but a combination of social, economic and political conditions - in which electronic participation initiatives are realized - that determine such a relationship. The paper presents David Held’s democracy models to illustrate the process of democratic evolution across different historical epochs and socio-political conditions. Such democracy models as Legitimate Democracy, Participatory Democracy, Deliberative Democracy, Democratic Autonomy are reviewed in more detail due to their relevance in the modern context of global transformations that create a new digital medium for government-citizen interaction. These models are aligned with key milestones reflecting upon the conceptualization of different approaches - for example, e-Government, e-Governance, e-Participation, Government 2.0, e-Democracy, Open Government, Government 3.0 - describing the application of electronic participation means. The conclusions stress that electronic participation methods and technologies form an ecosystem necessary for realizing the principles of e-Governance concept in state and municipal governance practice, whereas e-Government technologies play a supportive role as an information infrastructure platform ensuring interaction via G2G, G2C, G2B services. The maximum effect is achieved when the dedicated “gateways†are built for a direct real-time interaction between e-Government and e-Participation systems.