E-government as a basis for deliberative democracy in New Zealand

Abstract

The thesis examines e-government from the perspective of its application to deliberative democracy. First it looks at international e-governmental practices examining their functions (i.e. provision of information, communication, procurement, and, most importantly, e-democratic functions), forms, and the results as reported in the academic literature with particular focus on citizen engagement in democratic activities. It establishes that the outcomes of e-governmental initiatives (be they local, national, or international) are uneven and vary from case to case depending a lot on adequate technical functionality, government support and financing, bridging the digital divide, and a number of other factors. The study of academic literature raises the question whether or not we can consider every e-democratic initiative truly democratic (not to mention deliberative) and goes on to research current theories on deliberative democracy, showing that deliberation is the most likely basis for a "strong" (to quote Benjamin Barber's words) democracy and looking at the way we could apply the deliberative democratic theory to current e-governmental practices allowing them to better serve public interests. Finally the research looks at New Zealand's traditional practice of making submissions to the Parliament as the e-governmental procedure it has become through the case studies of public submissions to four Bills. It establishes that the submissions process is indeed a successful national-level e-democratic practice, which still suffers from "traditional" shortcomings of large-scale deliberative platforms but addresses them more successfully than a lot of previously examined ones. The research then outlines the success factors contributing to that, i.e. its mixed online-offline nature, government moderation of the deliberative process, and some others. The study suggests various ways of enhancing the process of submissions (e.g. making the mass media a rightful participant of the deliberative discussion, and creation of additional moderation outside governmental structures) and concludes that e-government may indeed be a very potent tool for enhancing democratic practices but is heavily dependent on traditional practices, initiative and the wills of the government, the people, and the mass media (and a multitude of other factors) be it in New Zealand or any other country.